PINE FAMILY. CONIFERS, 

 i. Abies balsamea (I,.) Mill. Balsam Fir. (Fig. 126.) 



57 



2. Abies Fraseri (Pursh) Lindl. 

 Fraser's Balsam Fir. (Fig. 127.) 



Pi 11 us Fraseri Pursh, Fl. Am. Sept. 639. 1814. 

 Abies Fraseri Lindl. Penny Cycl. i: 30. 1833. 



A forest tree, reaching a maximum size 

 about that of the preceding species, the 

 smooth bark bearing similar resin *' blisters." 

 Leaves, especially the younger, conspicu- 

 ously whitened beneath, 5 // -io // long, nearly 

 i" wide, emarginate or some of them ob- 

 tuse at the apex ; cones oblong-cylindric or 

 ovoid-cylindric, 2 / ~3 / high, about i' thick, 

 their scales rhomboid, much broader than 

 high, rounded at the apex, much shorter 

 than the papery bracts, which are reflexed, 

 their summits emarginate, serrulate and 

 aristate. 



On the high Alleghenies of southwestern Vir- 

 ginia. North Carolina and Tennessee. Wood 

 similar to that of the northern species, but 

 slightly lighter in weight. May. 



Pinus bahamea L. Sp. PI. looa. ITCJ. 



Ahits balsanifa Mill. Card. Diet Bd H. So. j. 



A slender forest tree attaining a maximum 

 height of about 90 and a trunk diameter of 

 3, usually much smaller and on mountain 

 tops and in high arctic regions reduced to 

 low shrub. Bark smooth, warty with resin 

 "blisters." Leaves fragrant in drying, lea* 

 than i" wide, 6"-io" long, obtiue. dark 

 green above, paler beneath or the youngest 

 conspicuously whitened on the lower surface ; 

 cones cylindric. 2' -4' long, 9"- 15" thick, 

 upright, arranged in rows on the upper tide 

 of the branches, violet or purplish when 

 young ; bracts obovate, serrulate, mttcronate. 

 shorter than the broad rounded scales. 



Newfoundland an<l Labrador t-> Hud*on Bay 

 and the Northwest Territory, south t,, MaMa- 

 chusetts, Pennsylvania, along thr Alleghn, 

 Virginia and to Michigan and Minni ,t;i 

 cends to 5000 ft. in the Adirnd.u-ks. Wood 

 soft and weak, light brown: weight per cubic 

 foot 24 Ibs. Canada balsam is derived from the 

 resinous exudations of the trunk. May -June 



6. TAXODIUM L. C. Rich. Ann. Mus. Paris, 16: 298. 



Tall trees with horizontal or drooping branches, and alternate spirally arrmngeti 

 linear or scale-like leaves, deciduous in our species, spreading so a* 1 

 some of the twigs commonly deciduous in autumn. Leaf-buds nake 

 very numerous, globose, in long terminal drooping panicled sj.i 

 leaves ; anthers 2-5-celled, the sacs 2-valved. Ovule-bearing aments ovoi 

 clusters, their scales few, bractless, each bearing a pair of ovules on 

 or nearly so, the scales thick and woody, rhomboid, fitting closely togeth 

 gins, each marked with a triangular scar at its base. Seeds large, si 

 pyramidal. [Name Greek, referring to the yew-like leaves.] 



Three known species, the following of southeastern North America, one Mexican, w 



