THE BLACK SPRUCE 



THE Black Spruce is easily distinguished among our native Spruces by the fact that 

 the cones hang on the trees for years after they have dropped their seeds. It 

 is also readily known from the White Spruce by the fact that there are fine hairs 

 upon the young branches, and from the Red Spruce by the very different appearance ot 

 the cones, these averaging much larger in the latter species. 



The Black Spruce is essentially a Northern tree, forming great areas of forest in 

 the Far North, and in the more southern portions of its range forming the predominant 

 element of the arboreal growth in those Spruce swamps which are so common in Southern 

 Canada and the more northern states. It ranges from Newfoundland to Hudson Bay 

 and northwestward, and extends southward to Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, and 

 Pennsylvania. Along the sides of the Alleghany Mountains it also ranges south to Virginia, 

 extending farther south than either of the other spruces. It is the prevailing spruce 

 in Eastern Massachusetts, where a glaucous form is sometimes found that might be mis- 

 taken for the White Spruce. 



The young branches of the Black Spruce have the bark covered with small brown- 

 ish or whitish hairs, which are readily seen with a hand-lens. The leaves encircle the young 

 twig, and their average length is one -third of an inch. In cross section they are obtusely 

 four-angled and at the tip they are acutely pointed. The branches in older trees are likely 

 to be very irregular in their manner of growth, some of them projecting straight outward, 

 others projecting downward near the trunk and upward toward their tips, a condition 

 that is well shown in the tree illustrated on the plate. The ovate, reddish-brown buds 

 are generally arranged in groups of three on the ends of the more vigorous branches. The 

 cones vary from three-fourths of an inch to an inch and a half in height, being oval in 

 general outline and having irregular teeth along the margins of the scales, one of the char- 

 acters by which this species is distinguished from the Red Spruce. As stated above, these 

 cones remain upon the trees for several years after maturing. 



The wood of the Black Spruce is soft and light, weighing but twenty-eight pounds 

 per cubic foot, and is chiefly of value for fuel and paper pulp, being rather extensively 

 used for the latter purpose along w T ith the other Spruces. This species is not desirable 

 as an ornamental tree on account of the scraggly appearance of the larger trees in the more 

 southern parts of its range, as well as the fact that it generally lives but a short time 

 when planted for landscape purposes. 



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