30 Illustrations of Conifers. 



P I C E A. 



EVERGREEN trees belonging to the tribe Abietinese of the order Coniferee, 

 with branchlets bearing in spiral order peg-like projections or pulvini 

 from which the leaves arise singly. Leaves needle-like either quad- 

 rangular or flattened in section, persisting for many years and rendering 

 the foliage very dense. Buds terminal and lateral, non-resinous. 



Flowers monoecious. Staminate flowers solitary in the axils of the 

 uppermost leaves, ovoid or cylindric, with scale-like bracts at the base, 

 composed of numerous stamens spirally arranged. Pistillate flowers or 

 young cones solitary, terminal, erect, stalked, composed of rounded or 

 pointed scales, each in the axil of a bract, ovules two on each scale. 



Cones ripening in one year, pendulous, cylindrical or ovoid, with 

 the bracts minute and concealed, the scales enlarged and bearing on 

 their inner surface two winged seeds. 



About eighteen species of spruce occur in Europe, Asia Minor, 

 Caucasus, Siberia, Mongolia, China, Japan, Himalayas and North America. 

 The genus is divided into two sections, one including the flat-leaved 

 species, and the other comprising those with quadrangular leaves. 



