70 HARDY CONIFEROUS TREES. 



PICEA (Link). 

 THE SPRUCE FIRS. 



Flowers moncecious ; male catkins axillary or terminal ; 

 females terminal and solitary. 



Cones generally pendent, solitary, and remaining intact for a 

 long time. 



Scales persistently attached to the axis, not falling away 

 from each other as in the silver firs, broadly rounded, and 

 with the edges undulated. 



Seeds small, oblong, winged, with a bony shell. 



Bracts free from the scales except at the base, and not 

 projecting. 



Cotyledons three-sided, and six to ten in number. 



Leaves four-sided, pointing in every direction, and with cir- 

 cular projections at the base. 



Evergreen trees or shrubs, with four-sided leaves, and 

 usually pendent cones with persistent scales. As stated 

 under Abies, the now universally adopted plan of calling the 

 spruces Picea is here adopted. 



Picea ajanensis, Fischer. {Synonym: Abies ajanen- 

 j-^j, Veitch.) Amoor Land, Mountains of Japan. 1861. This 

 is a distinct and beautiful conifer, of sturdy growth, and 

 non-exacting as to soil. It is certainly one of the hand- 

 somest of the family, and even in mid-winter the beautiful 

 glaucous foliage and curiously white-streaked stem have a 

 striking appearance. When planted in an open space, for 

 which it is peculiarly suitable, the plant usually assumes a 

 pyramidal style of growth, the branches being well furnished 

 with small branchlets or twigs, and all densely studded with 

 the pretty and attractive foliage. Usually the branch tips have 

 a distinct upward inclination, thus revealing glimpses here 

 and there of the silvery under-sides of the leaves, and which 

 afford a striking contrast to the darker tint of the upper and 

 exposed sides. The leaves, which are fully \ an inch long, and 

 abruptly acute.are of a deep, pleasing shade of green above, and 



