CONIFERS. (pine FAMILY.) 471 



2. ABIES, Tourn. Spruce. Fir. 



Sterile catkins scattered or somewhat clustered in the axils of leaves of the 

 preceding- year. Fertile catkins and cones lateral or terminal on hranchcs of 

 the preceding year : scales of the cone thin and even, not at all tliickened nor 

 prickly-tipped. Leaves all of one kind and foliaccous, scattered (not fascicled), 

 short, persistent for two or more years. Flowering in spring, and cones ma- 

 turing in autumn. Otherwise nearly as in Pinus. (The clas-nical Latin name.) 

 Of European species A. excelsa, the Norway Spruce is most commonly, 

 and A. pectinXta, the Silver Fir, occasionally planted. 



§ I, Spruce. (Picea of Link, not of L. Abies, L. and others. These 

 ancient names much transposed by moderns.) Cones hanrjing from or near 

 the end of a branch ; the scales persistent on the axis : anthers tipped laith a 

 rounded recurved appendaffe, their cells distinct and opening lengthwise: pollen 

 nearly/ as in Pine : leaves needle-shaped and 4-sided, pointing every way. 



1. A. nigra, Poir. (Black or Double Spruce.) Leaves short (6" -8" 

 long), eitiicr dark green or glaucous-whitish ; cones ovate or ovate-oblong (I'-I^' 

 long), mostly recurved, jtersistent, tlie i igid scales with a thin often eroded edge. 

 — Swamps and cold mountain woods. New England to Wisconsin and north- 

 ward, and southward along the mountains. 



2. A. alba, Michx. (White Spruce.) Leaves pale or glaucous ; cones 

 nodding, cylindrical (about 2' long), pale, deciduous, the thinner scales with an 

 entire edge ; a handsomer tree than No. 1, in aspect more like a Balsam Fir. — 

 Northern New England and New York to Lake Superior, and northward. 



§2. Hemlock-Spruce. (Tsuga, Endl.) Cones hanging on the end of declined 

 branches of the preceding year, persistent, small ; the scales persistent on the axis : 

 sterile calkins small, of a few capitate anthers, their sho7-t confluent cells opening 

 transversely : pollen-grains s'lmple: leaves flat, whitened beneath, petioled, spread- 

 ing in two directions so as to seem 2-ranbd. 



3. A. Canadensis, Michx. (Hemlock Spruce.) Leaves short-linear, 

 obtuse (^' long) ; cones oval (6" -8" long), of few thin scales much longer 

 thiin the bracts. — Hilly or rocky woods ; very common northward, and rare 

 southward in the Allcghanies. — A large tree, when young the most graceful 

 of Spruces, with a light and spreading spray, and delicate foliage, bright greer 

 above, silvery underneath. Timber coarse-grained and poor. 



§ 3. Fir. (Abies of Pliny. Picea, L., not oi Link.) Cones erect on the upper 

 side of spreading branches ; their scales and mostly exserted bracts deciduous from 

 the persistent axis at maturity : seeds atid bark of tree with balsam-bearing vesi^ 

 cles : anthers tipped with a 1 - 2-pointed appendage, their cells opening by lacer-. 

 alion ; pollen nearly as in Pine : leaves fat, with midrib prom'inent on the whitened 

 lower face, mostly sessile, on horizontal branches more or less spreading hi two di' 

 reilions, sn as to seem '1-ranhd. 



4. A. balsamea, Marshall. (Balsam Fir.) Leaves narrowly linear; 

 cones cylindrical, hirge (2' -4' long, V thick), violet-colored; the bracts obovate, 

 serrulate, tipped with an abrupt slender point, 'included or slightly projecting. — 

 Cfild damp woods and swamps. New England to Peun., Wisconsiu, and north- 



