The Spruces 33 



The leaves are about 1 in. long and have short, flat points. They are crowded 

 and curved to the upper side of the twig but are flexible and soft to the touch. 

 When crushed they have a disagreeable odour. The colour is more or less blue. 

 Branchlets are minutely hairy. 



The cones are 1 to 3 in. long, green at maturity but later turning brown. 

 The ends of the scales are squarish but sometimes pointed and notched. 



This tree is found in Yukon territory, British Columbia, and the foot-hills of 

 Alberta. It will grow on almost any kind of soil, providing there is sufiicient 

 moisture. It rarely forms pure stands, and its great shade-enduring qualities 

 enable it to thrive amongst other trees. In Alberta it is largely found mixed with 

 white spruce and lodgepole pine. 



The wood of this tree, usually sold as mountain spruce, competes with that of 

 white spruce (Picea canadensis) in the Prairie Provinces. The two woods are 

 similar in quality but Bngelmann spruce is usually obtainable in greater dimensions 

 free from defect. It is a common mine timber in the Rocky mountains. 



PICEA SITCHENSIS, Carr. SITKA SPRUCE 



Common names: Sitka spruce, Menzies spruce, tideland spruce, 



coast spruce. 

 French name: Epinette de Sitka. 



The Sitka spruce is 80 to 125 ft. high and 3 to 5 ft. in diameter. It is the largest 

 and most imposing of all the spruces, and the only one found in the region in which 

 it grows. In dense stands it produces a long, clear trunk with a rather swollen 

 base, but growing in the open it retains its limbs right to the ground. 



The branches are horizontal, frequently with many slender, hanging side 

 branchlets. 



The bark is reddish-brown and extremely thin. It peels off in large, thin, 

 flat scales. 



The leaves are stiff, thick, sharp-pointed, and four-angled in cross-section. 

 They bristle out all around the twig. New twigs are smooth and yellowish-brown. 



The cones are 2}4 to 4 in. long, oval and short-stalked, and hang down- 

 wards. Their colour varies from green to dark red when mature. The scales are 

 thin and papery. 



This tree grows along the full length of the British Columbia coast southward 

 from Alaska. It is confined chiefly to the country between the coast and the 

 western slope of the Coast range. It occurs mostly along the courses of streams 

 and on alluvial and sandy flat lands along the coast. Most of it is found below 

 the elevation of 400 feet and it rarely goes higher than 3,000 feet, except (contrary 

 to the general rule) in the northern part of its range, where it follows up the stream 

 beds. In the north it is found in pure stands, but it associates a great deal with the 

 western hemlock. 



Sitka spruce lumber can be obtained in greater dimensions, clear of defect, 



225103 ; ' ! 



