APPENDIX III 263 



CYPRESS. 



CYPRESS (Taxodium distichum) (bald cypress; black, white, and red 

 cypress) : Wood in appearance, quality, and uses similar to white 

 cedar. "Black cypress" and " white cypress " are dark and light 

 forms of the same species. The cypress is a large deciduous tree, 

 occupying much of the swamp and overflow land along the coast 

 and rivers of the Southern States. 



FIR. This name is frequently applied to wood and to trees which are 

 not fir ; most commonly to spruce, but also, especially in English 

 markets, to pine. It resembles spruce, but is easily distinguished from 

 it, as well as from pine and larch, by the absence of resin ducts. 

 Quality, uses, and habits similar to spruce. The trees furnishing this 

 wood are generally called balsams. 



1. BALSAM (Abies balsamea) : A medium-sized tree, scattered throughout 



the northern pineries ; cut, in lumber operations whenever of 

 sufficient size, and sold with pine or spruce. Minnesota to Maine 

 and northward. 



2. BALSAM or WHITE FIR (Abies grandis and Abies concolor) : Medium- 



to very large-sized tree, forming an important part of some of the 

 western mountain forests. The former occurs from Vancouver 

 to central California and eastward to Montana; the latter from 

 Oregon to Arizona and eastward to Colorado and New Mexico. 



3. MOUNTAIN BALSAM (Abies amabilis) : Good-sized tree, often forming 



extensive mountain forests. Cascade Mountains of Washington 

 and Oregon. 



4. BALSAM or WHITE FIR (Abies nobilis) (sometimes called red fir ; not 



to be confounded with Douglas fir or red fir) : Large to very large 

 tree; occurs with A. amabilis in the forests on the slope of the 

 mountains between three thousand and four thousand feet eleva- 

 tion. Cascade Mountains of Oregon. 



5. BALSAM or WHITE FIR (Abies magnified} : Very large tree, in forests 



about the base of Mount Shasta. Sierra Nevada Mountains of 

 California, from Mount Shasta southward. 



HEMLOCK. Light to medium weight, soft, stiff but brittle, commonly 

 crossgrained, rough, and splintery ; sapwood and heartwood not well 



