Illustrations of Conifers. 41 



PICEA NIGRA (Link). BLACK SPRUCE. 







Gardeners' Chronicle, Vol. XI. p. 884 (1879). 

 Veitch's Man. Conif. ed. 2, p. 488 (1900). 



A TREE usually attaining in America a height of 30 feet with a trunk 

 3 feet in girth, but said occasionally to be much larger. Bark reddish- 

 brown, exfoliating in irregularly shaped scales. 



Branchlets pale or reddish-brown, densely pubescent with whitish 

 hairs. Buds small, ovoid, with an outer ring of long subulate-pointed 

 scales. 



Leaves on lateral branches arranged as in the common spruce, 

 | inch long, greyish or bluish-green, straight or slightly curved, obtuse, 

 with a cartilaginous apex, quadrangular in section, with lines of 

 stomata on all four sides. 



Cones ovoid, obtuse, about an inch long, green tinged with purple 

 at first, becoming reddish-brown when ripe ; scales broadly ovate or 

 orbicular with denticulate margins. Seeds | inch long with pale brown 

 wings inch in length. The cones persist on the tree for several 

 years after the dehiscence of the seeds. 



Picea nigra occurs over nearly the whole of the Dominion of 

 Canada, except British Columbia, crossing the Rocky Mountains into 

 Alaska, and extending southwards in the United States to Pennsyl- 

 vania, northern Virginia, Wisconsin and Michigan. It is common on 

 barren hills, swampy ground and peat bogs. The wood is used for 

 the manufacture of paper pulp. 



Picea nigra was introduced into English cultivation about 1700 

 by Bishop Compton and is now fairly common in collections. The 

 Bayfordbury specimen planted in 1842 was blown down and has since 

 grown up from the roots attaining a height of 13 feet. 



