2616 



PICEA 



PICEA 



P. mariana, P. canadensis, P. rubra, P. pungens, P. 

 Engelmannii, P. Breweriana, and P. sitchensis. The 

 grand and towering Douglas spruce and the graceful 

 hemlock spruce, so called, are not true spruces and will 

 not be noticed in this article. 



The white spruce, Picea canadensis, is a native of the 

 northern parts of America and is justly thought to be 

 one of our best conifers, a compact and upright grower 

 of great longevity; trees growing at Waukegan, Illinois, 

 of mature age, are well branched at the bottom, retain 

 their pyramidal form, and annually make an upward 

 growth. It is the most aromatic of the piceas; in 

 fact, this odor is often used to identify it while 

 young from the Norway spruce or Engelmann's spruce. 

 It grows on a great variety of soils, bears crowding well 

 and also will stand severe pruning; hence it is used for 

 windbreaks and hedges. Seedlings vary considerably in 

 color, some of them fairly rivaling the blue form of the 

 P. pungens. This tree, being a native of a cold climate, 

 is subject to the ravages of the red-spider in a warm 



2941. Shedding of the leaves of Norway spruce. Picea Excelsa. 

 The picture shows the extremities of a limb that is eight years old. The part 

 between the tip and A is last season's growth; between A and B it is two years old; 

 and beyond is a part that grew three seasons ago. The section beyond C is six 

 years old; from C to Z> is seven years of age. The four years' growth of this limb not 

 shown in the drawing was as densely covered with foliage as is the part shown in the 

 upper figure; but there are not many leaves between C and D (seven years old) and 

 none on the eight-year-old wood (except those on the branchlets, and these are 

 younger). This shows that the leaves persisted six or seven years. 



climate and should not be planted south of Philadel- 

 phia or St. Louis. There is a variety of P. canadensis 

 found in the Black Hills that stands extreme drought 

 better than the northern form and is largely planted 

 on the dry prairies of Nebraska and the Dakotas. It 

 does not, however, do so well in northern Illinois or 

 farther east as the northern variety. 



Picea Engelmannii, one of the gems of Colorado, 

 resembles P. canadensis more than it does its near neigh- 

 bor, P. pungens, being of finer foliage and not so stiff- 

 branched as the latter. It is one of the few conifers 

 that will stand the extreme cold of Petrograd, Russia, 

 but on our western prairies it soon loses its lower 

 branches, as it seems to be unable to withstand the 

 hot and drying winds of that section in late summer 

 and early autumn. In the eastern states, however, it 

 does not have this fault, as the cooler and more humid 

 air seems better to agree with it. 



Another Colorado conifer, P. pungens (the blue 

 form being called by some the "queen of the piceas"), is 

 a striking and noble tree, seeming to be hardy wherever 

 tested and on all varieties of soil. Strong, sturdy, and 

 upright in growth, its form alone would make it a strik- 

 ing figure in any landscape. Its beautiful color varies 



from a light silvery hue in some specimens to a dark 

 blue, almost purple in others. In some specimens the 

 branches are in distinct and regular whorls, resembling 

 Araucaria excelsa. Undoubtedly the oldest and finest 

 specimens of this grand tree are found on the former 

 grounds of the late Robert Douglas, at Waukegan, 

 Illinois. These trees are now 35 to 40 feet high and 

 show no signs of weakness anywhere, being one mass of 

 foliage from the ground upward. The green form of P. 

 pungens is an excellent tree, but is not so much appre- 

 ciated by planters and lovers of trees as it should be, as 

 it is always compared to its more striking variety, the 

 blue spruce. There is a fine specimen growing on the 

 above grounds, even larger than the blue form, which 

 does not suffer in comparison with its near neighbors, 

 Abies concolor, A. Fraseri, Picea Engelmannii, Tsuga 

 canadensis or hemlock spruce, Pseudotsuga Douglasii or 

 Douglas spruce, and Pinus Strobus, all large and fine 

 specimens, equal to any in the Middle West. 



Picea mariana, or black spruce, is undoubtedly the 

 poorest tree of the genus from a land- 

 scape gardener's point of view. It has 

 very short needles and is greatly dis- 

 figured by its cones, which hang on 

 for several years. It begins seeding 

 when very young and is an exceedingly 

 slow grower. Some good specimens of 

 it are found, however, in the East, but 

 in very restricted localities. P. rubra, 

 long thought to be a variety of the 

 preceding, is a much better tree in 

 every respect, resembling P. excelsa in 

 color and form. It seems to be a short- 

 lived tree, especially in the West. This 

 tree is undoubtedly the least known of 

 the American piceas. P. sitchensis of 

 the Pacific Coast strongly resembles P. 

 pungens; in fact, when the latter was 

 first introduced it was thought to be 

 a variety of P. sitchensis. It has much 

 finer branches and needles than P. pun- 

 gens, varies in coloring as much as the 

 latter, and, where hardy, makes a very 

 fine tree. Unfortunately it is not hardy 

 in any of the northern states. Unlike 

 P. pungens, it will not stand close 

 planting, as the needles fall off badly 

 where the branches are rubbed together 

 by the wind or strike other objects. 



Without doubt the most graceful 

 and elegant picea is P. Breweriana, 

 or weeping spruce, a native of the 

 Siskiyou and Coast Ranges of mountains in northern 

 California and Oregon. It has the true spruce form, 

 tall and symmetrical, with horizontal branches and a 

 beautiful dark green color. In its general features it 

 resembles a well-grown specimen of the Norway spruce, 

 but its distinguishing beauty is in the long pliant 

 pendulous branchlets which hang straight down from 

 the branches to a length of 6 to 8 feet and no larger 

 around than a lead pencil. It has a stately grace in 

 calm weather, but its characteristic impressiveness is 

 seen only when the long flexible branches are undulat- 

 ing in a light breeze or streaming before a gale. The 

 bark is smooth and reddish in color, adding to its 

 beauty where glimpses of it can be seen through the 

 green foliage. It grows only at high elevations in its 

 native habitat and on the northern slope of the moun- 

 tains where the annual fall of snow is 15 to 25 feet. 

 The cones are from 2^ to 3% inches long, of a pur- 

 plish color, and as they grow only on the tips of the 

 branches they add greatly to its beauty. Unfortunately 

 this beautiful tree has not proved satisfactory. Out of 

 over 300,000 seedlings raised in 1893, only one plant 

 is now alive; it is growing on the Douglas grounds 

 and is scarcely 5 feet tall, having cost over $100 a 



