RED SPRUCE 



(Picea Rubens) 



IN New York the tree is called yellow spruce, while in foreign literature 

 it is known as North American red spruce. The tree is sometimes 

 difficult to distinguish from black spruce (Picea nigra), the main points 

 of difference in the appearance of the two trees being the size and shape 

 of the cones and of the staminate blossoms. The cones of red spruce are 

 larger than those of black, and they mature and drop from the branches 

 during their first winter, while those of the latter named species frequent- 

 ly remain on the trees for several seasons. Certain eminent botanists 

 incline to the belief that the two are different varieties of one species, 

 inasmuch as even the timber of red spruce bears a close resemblance to 

 that of the black spruce. Other botanists dispute this theory, saying 

 that the trees are entirely different in appearance ; that the red spruce is 

 a light olive-green, while black spruce is inclined to a darker olive with 

 perhaps a purplish tinge, so that when seen together they have no 

 resemblance in point of color. They further say that the cones are not 

 only different in size but that the scales are quite unlike in texture, those 

 of black spruce being much thinner and more brittle. The same au- 

 thorities maintain that the tiny twigs of red spruce are more conspicuous 

 on account of their reddish tinge. 



Generally speaking the principal spruce growth of northern New 

 England and New York is black spruce, although interspersed with it in 

 some localities is a considerable quantity of red spruce. On the contrary 

 the chief stand of spruce in West Virginia, Virginia, western North 

 Carolina, and eastern Tennessee and the other high altitudes over the 

 South Carolina line, is largely red spruce. This botanical analysis of the 

 two species of wood is based entirely on the authority of botanists, but 

 from the viewpoint of the average lumberman there is absolutely no 

 difference between red and black spruce and none in the physics of the 

 two woods except that which rises from varying conditions of growth as 

 soil, rainfall, altitude or latitude, or general environment. The larger 

 spruce of West Virginia and the mountain region farther south, has 

 certain qualities of strength and texture, combined with a large percent- 

 age of clear lumber that is not approximated by the spruce of New 

 England and the British maritime provinces. In shape the tree is 

 pyramidal, with spreading branches. It reaches a height of from 

 seventy to a hundred feet. Its bark is reddish brown, slightly scaly. 

 The twigs are light colored when young and are covered with tiny hairs. 

 The leaves are thickly clustered along the branches, and are simple and 



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