

PINACE.E 35 



Picea is widely distributed through the colder and temperate regions of the northern hem- 

 isphere, some species forming great forests on plains and high mountain slopes. Thirty- 

 seven species are now recognized, ranging from the Arctic Circle to the slopes of the southern 

 Appalachian Mountains and to those of northern New Mexico and Arizona in the New 

 World, and to central and southeastern Europe, the Caucasus, the Himalayas, western 

 China, Formosa and Japan. Of exotic species the so-called Norway Spruce, Picea Abies 

 Karst., one of the most valuable timber-trees of Europe, has been largely planted for 

 ornament and shelter in the eastern states, where the Caucasian Picea orientalis Carr., 

 and some of the Japanese species also flourish. 



Picea was probably the classical name of the Spruce-tree. 



CONSPECTUS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN SPECIES. 



Leaves 4-sided, with stomata on the 4 sides. 

 Cone-scales rounded at apex. 



Cone-scales stiff and rigid at maturity; branchlets pubescent. 



Cones ovoid on strongly incurved stalks, persistent for many years, their scales 

 erose or dentate; leaves blue-green. 1. P. mariana (A, B, F). 



Cones ovoid-oblong, early deciduous, their scales entire or denticulate; leaves dark 

 yellow-green. 2. P. rubra (A). 



Cone-scales soft and flexible at maturity; branchlets glabrojus; cones oblong-cylindric, 

 slender, their scales entire; leaves blue-green. 3. P. glauca (A, B, F). 



Cone-scales truncate or acute at apex, oblong or rhombic; leaves blue-green. 



Cones oblong-cylindric or ellipsoidal; branchlets pubescent; leaves soft and flexible. 



4. P. Engelmannii (F, B, G). 

 Cones oblong-cylindric; branchlets glabrous; leaves rigid, spinescent. 



5. P. pungens (F). 



ves flattened, usually with stomata only on the upper surface; cone-scales rounded. 

 Cone-scales ovate, entire; branchlets pubescent; cones ellipsoidal, leaves obtuse. 



6. P. Breweriana (G). 



Cone-scales elliptic, denticulate above the middle; branchlets glabrous; cones oblong- 

 cylindric, leaves acute or acuminate, with stomata occasionally on the lower surface. 



7. P. sitchensis (B, G). 



1. Picea mariana B. S. P. Black Spruce. 



Leaves slightly incurved above the middle, abruptly contracted at apex into short 

 callous tips, pale blue-green and glaucous at maturity, j'-f ' long, hoary on the upper sur- 

 face from the broad bands of stomata, and lustrous and slightly stomatiferous on the lower 

 surface. Flowers: male subglobose, with dark red anthers; female oblong-cylindric, 

 with obovate purple scales rounded above, and oblong purple glaucous bracts rounded 

 and denticulate at apex. Fruit ovoid, pointed, gradually narrowed at the base into 

 short strongly incurved stalks, '-lf ' long, with rigid puberulous scales rounded or rarely 

 somewhat pointed at apex and more or less erose on the notched pale margins, turning 

 as they ripen dull gray-brown and becoming as the scales gradually open and slowly dis- 

 charge their seeds almost globose; sometimes remaining on the branches for twenty or 

 thirty years, the oldest close to the base of the branches near the trunk; seeds oblong, 

 narrowed to the acute base, about f long, very dark brown, with delicate pale brown 

 wings broadest above the middle, very oblique at the apex, about \' long, \' wide. 



A tree, usually 20-30 and occasionally 100 high, with a trunk 6'-12' and rarely 3 in 

 diameter, and comparatively short branches generally pendulous with upward curves, 

 forming an" open irregular crown, light green branchlets coated with pale pubescence, soon . 

 beginning to grow darker, and during their first winter light cinnamon-brown and covered 

 with short rusty pubescence, their thin brown bark gradually becoming glabrous and be- 

 ginning to break into small thin scales during their second year; at the extreme north 



