358 NEW ENGLAND TREES IN WINTER. 



WHITE SPRUCE 



Cat, Skunk or Labrador Spruce. 



Picea canadensis (Mill.) BSP. 



P. alba Link. 



HABIT A tree 40-75 feet in height with a trunk diameter of 1-2 ft 

 trunk straight, slowly tapering-, branches numerous, slightly ascending 

 or nearly horizontal, with numerous lateral, generally somewhat pendant 

 branchlets, spread in more or less well marked dense planes, forming a 

 broad-based pyramidal head; foliage bluish-green. 



BARK Grayish to pale reddish-brown; on young trunks and branches 

 smoothish or slightly roughened becoming in a relatively late stage 

 flaky with small closely appressed scales. 



TWIGS Light, yellowish-brown, smooth. 



LEAF-SCARS Alternate, more than 2-ranked, on strongly projecting, 

 decurrent ridges of the bark. BUNDLE-SCARS single. 



LEAVES Bluish-green, 4-angled, 10-25 mm. long, blunt or sharp- 

 pointed, straight or incurved, without proper leaf-stalks with a strong 

 rank odor when bruised which is responsible for some of the common 

 names. 



BUDS Ovate, blunt-pointed, light brown. 



FRUIT Oblong-cylindrical cones, 1^-2^ inches long, generally fall- 

 ing the first winter. SCALES thin, flexible and elastic; margin rounded 

 or straight-topped, generally entire. 



COMPARISONS The White Spruce differs from our other native 

 Spruces, the Red and the Black, by its smooth twigs, less scaly bark, 

 rather longer and more nearly cylindrical cones and usually by the 

 rank odor of its leaves; from the Red Spruce further by its bluish- 

 green foliage. From the smooth-twigged Blue Spruce it is distinguished 

 by its smaller cones and less distinctly layered arrangement of branches. 



DISTRIBUTION Low, damp, but not wet woods; dry, sandy soils, 

 high, rocky slopes and exposed hilltops, often in scanty soil. 

 Newfoundland and Nova Scotia, through the provinces of Quebec and 

 Ontario to Manitoba and British Columbia, northward beyond all other 

 trees, within 20 miles of the Arctic sea; west through the northern 

 sections of the northern tier of states to the Rocky mountains. Some- 

 times cultivated as an ornamental tree. 



IN NEW ENGLAND Maine frequent in sandy soils, often more com- 

 mon than the Red Spruce, as far south as the shores of Casco bay; New 

 Hampshire abundant around the shores of the Connecticut river, dis- 

 appearing southward at Fifteen-Mile falls; Vermont restricted mainly 

 to the northern sections, more common in the northeast; Massachusetts 

 occasional in the mountainous regions of Berkshire county; a few trees 

 in Hancock; as far south as Amherst, and Northampton, probably about 

 the southern limit of the species; Rhode Island not reported. 



IN CONNECTICUT Rare. Waterford, a few trees in a pasture as an 

 escape from cultivation. 



WOOD Light, soft, not strong, straight-grained, light yellow, with 

 hardly distinguishable sapwood; manufactured into lumber in the 

 eastern provinces of Canada and used in construction for the interior 

 finish of buildings and for paper pulp. 



