Plants of Canada. 41 



F«//«7{/— CONIFER.E.— JussiKU. 



Genus— PIXUS.—L. 



Section — Spruces. Leaves solitary. 



Pimis balsamca — L. Abies balsamifcra — Miciiaux. 



Balsam Spruce. Sapi/i. 



" Leaves flat, gn y beneath. Cones cylindrical, erect." 



This is a beautiful evergreen tree, rising in a pyramidal 

 shape to the height of thirty feet or more. In open and 

 cultivated grounds, it becomes feathered down to the 

 surface, and is a very pleasing object to contemplate ; it is 

 in consequence, in much request for shrubberies and park 

 scenery in Britain. This is the tree which produces tlie 

 Canada Balsam, well known to practitioners in the healing 

 art. It is found in small blisters in the bark, whence it is 

 extracted by incision, and received in a limpid ^tate 

 into a shell or cup. The best varnish for water-colour 

 paintings is prepared fromthis li(|uid resin. This spruce is 

 common about Quebec, and throughout Canada; but 1 do 

 not find that the timber is applied to any useful purpose. 



Pinus Canadensis — L. Abies Canadensis — Mx. 

 Hendock Spruce. Prnche. 



" Leave* flat, denticulate, two-ranked. Coucs ovate, terminal, as long 



as the leaves." 



A large tree, with beautiful foliage, vying in magnitude 

 with the while pine. The timber enters not into com- 

 merce, except in the shape of lathwood, of which a ct)nsi- 

 dcrable (piantity is yearly shipped to Britain and iiclaiul : 

 it is however, sparingly usetl here in rural archittrturc for 

 coverings of roofs and f«r \vealher boardings. The hark is 

 UM*(I by the country tanners in the nianidactiit ing of 

 leather ; it is said to pcj'-scss a large proportion of tin; 

 taninng princi[ilc. The leaver have the na\oiir of juiiipi r 



