342 A HANDBOOK OF CONIFERS 



shoots, awl-shaped outer bud-scales and glaucous-green foliage. 

 The characters which separate it from P. rubra are described under 

 the latter species. 



The black spruce is found over nearly the whole of the 

 Dominion of Canada, being a common tree in all the eastern 

 provinces and Newfoundland. It crosses the Rocky Mountains 

 into Alaska and spreads southwards in the United States to 

 Pennsylvania, N. Virginia, Wisconsin, and Michigan. In British 

 Columbia its western Umit is said to be between Teslin and Atlin 

 lakes and to the east of Telegraph Creek, on Stikine River. ^ In 

 British Columbia it is usually found as a stunted tree less than 

 25 ft. high, in cold, swampy places. It has a more northerly 

 distribution than P. rubra and is often a tree of swampy and 

 boggy places, but in the northern part of its range it is often 

 found in drier situations, such as the stony slopes of hUls. 



The economic properties of the black spruce are identical 

 with those of P. alba. The wood, however, is regarded as being 

 rather stronger when at its best, but it is usually smaller and is 

 in less general use. In commerce the wood of P. nigra appears 

 to be mixed with that of P. alba and P. rubra, but for special 

 purposes it is desirable that they should be separated. The chief 

 use of black spruce is for the manufacture of paper pulp. 



P. nigra succeeds in Britain, but grows more slowly than 

 P. alba, and its use is Umited to decorative planting and to 

 scientific collections. It is less liable to insect attacks than either 

 European or Sitka spruce. In N. America it occurs both as pure 

 forests and as mixed stands. The largest trees and the best 

 stands occur in moist but well-drained alluvial soils. 



Picea obovata, Ledebour. 

 Siberian Spruce. 



Abies obovata, Loiadon. 



A tree of somewhat similar habit and dimensions to the 

 common spruce, and by some botanists united with it. Young 

 shoots reddish brown, clothed with minute, scattered, glandular 

 hairs. Buds conic, about J, in. long with closely pressed rounded 

 scales, the terminal bud with a ring of long-pointed scales at the 

 base. Leaves similar to those of P. excelsa, i-i in. long, bluntly 

 pointed, quadrangular in section, with 3 or 4 stomatic lines 

 on each side. Cones 3-4 in. long, l^H ^- wide, cylindrical, 

 shining brown when ripe ; scales numerous, thin, flexible, fan- 

 shaped with entire or toothed margins ; bracts i in. long, toothed 

 at the apex. Seed ^ in. long, brownish black, with a narrow 

 wing f— J in. long. 



^ Whitford and Craig, Forests of British Columbia, p. 201 (1918). 



