SPRUCE FIRS. / 



Cones, 3 inches long and 1 to Ij inch broad, pendulous, cylin- 

 drical, blunt-pointed, and with the scales loose and not compact ; 

 scales elliptical, three-quarters of an inch long, and having a 

 shrivelled brown appearance, with the margin thin, very irre- 

 gularly toothed or bitten. Bracteas, small, and hidden by the 

 scales ; seeds very small and winged. 



A tall tree growing 60 or 70 feet high, with a pyramidal, 

 thickly- branched head, and silvery appearance. Timber of 

 excellent quality. 



It is found abundantly in Northern California, and on the 

 Island of Sitcha, also growing in the Shasta Country, in rather 

 moist situations along the banks of rivers, in deep alluvial soil 

 100 feet high. 



Abies Menziesti crispa, Antoine. 



This variety only differs from the species, in having the 

 margins of the scales, on the cones, more undulated or somewhat 

 jagged, and more extended. 



No. 4. Abies nigra, Michaux, the Black Spruce Fir. 

 Syn. Abies Mariana, Miller. 

 „ „ denticulata, Poiret. 



„ Picea nigra. Link. 

 „ Pinus nigra, Aiton. 

 „ „ Mariana, Du Hoi. 



„ „ Marylandica, Booth. 



Leaves, solitary, regularly spreading all round the branches, 

 and somewhat four-sided, very short and stiff, of a sombre dark 

 green, half an inch long, thickly set and erect. Branches, 

 horizontal, or very slightly drooping at the ends. Cones, pen- 

 dulous, egg-shaped from 1| to if inch long, and nearly 

 three-quarters of an inch broad, deep purple when young, but 

 when ripe of a dusky reddish brown ; scales very thin, rounded, 

 blunt, and when ripe undulated or wavy and jagged on the 

 margin ; seeds, small, with a little stiff wing. 



A tall tree, with a smooth blackish bark, attaining a height 

 of 70 or 80 feet, and 1^ foot in diameter, with horizontal 



