The Pine Family 139 



sides. The cones are green and about four inches long. The 

 bark varies from gray to brown, and from thin and smooth to 

 thick and rough. 



This is a tree of the lowlands. It is found in the moist flats 

 and river valleys of Vancouver Island and southern British 

 Columbia, where it grows to be a lofty tree with long, slender, 

 drooping branches. 



The wood is soft and light and but sparingly used for build- 

 ing and other purposes. 



This is the most rapid grower of all the firs, but it requires 

 a rich soil and moist climate with an altitude not much above 

 sea level to attain its best development. It has been trans- 

 planted for ornamental purposes in Europe but is not much 

 used in America. 



IV. THE FALSE HEMLOCKS 

 Genus Pseudotsuga 



This genus contains but three known species, one a native of 

 Japan and the others of the western coast of North America. 

 The word "pseudotsuga " is a combination of the Greek word 

 meaning false with the Japanese name for the hemlocks. Surely 

 here is the place where the East meets the West. 



They are large conical trees in many ways resembling the 

 firs. The bark, however, is thick and deeply grooved, and 

 bears no blisters as in the firs. The cones are drooping on dis- 

 tinct stalks, each scale being in the axil of a bract longer than 

 the scale. These bracts are two-lobed, forming a sort of fringe 

 around the cone. 



The false hemlocks may easily be distinguished from the firs 

 by their bark and cones. 



