CONIFERiE. (PINE FAMILY.) 471 



2. ABIES, Tourn. Spruce. Fir. 



Sterile catkins scattered or somewhat clustered in the axils of leaves of the 

 preceding year. Fertile catkins and cones lateral or terminal on branches of 

 the preceding year : scales of the cone thin and even, not at all thickened nor 

 prickly-tipped. Leaves all of one kind and foliaceous, scattered (not fascicled), 

 short, persistent for two or more years. Flowering in spring, and cones ma- 

 turing in autumn. Otherwise nearly as in Finus. (The classical Latin name.) 

 Of European species A. excelsa, the Norway Spruce is most commonly, 

 and A. pectinata, the Silver Fir, occasionally planted. 



§ 1. Spruce. (Ficea of Link, not of L. Abies, L. and others. These 

 ancient names much transposed by moderns.) Cones hanging from or near 

 the end of a branch ; the scales persistent on the axis : anthers tipped with a 

 rounded recurved appendage, their cells distinct and opening lengthwise: pollen 

 nearly as in Fine : leaves needle-shaped and 4-sided, pointing every wag. 



1. A. nigra, Foir. (Black or Double Spruce.) Leaves short (6" -8" 

 long), either dark green or glaucous-whitish ; cones ovate or ovate-oblong (V — l£' 

 long), mostly recurved, persistent, the rigid scales with a thin often eroded edge. 

 — Swamps and cold mountain woods, New England to Wisconsin and north- 

 ward, and southward along the mountains. 



2. A. alba, Michx. (White Spruce.) Leaves pale or glaucous ; cones 

 nodding, cylindrical (about 2' long), pale, deciduous, the thinner scales with an 

 entire edge; a handsomer tree than No. 1, in aspect more like a Balsam Fir. — 

 Northern New England and New York to Lake Superior, and northward. 



§2. Hemlock-Spruce. (Tsuga, Endl.) Cones hanging on the end of declined 

 branches of the preceding year, persistent, small ; the scales persistent on the axis : 

 sterile catkins small, of a few capitate anthers, their short confluent cells opening 

 transversely: pollen-grains simple : leaves fat, whitened beneath, petioled, spread- 

 ing in two directions so as to seem 2-ranked. 



3. A. Canadensis, Michx. (Hemlock Spruce.) Leaves short-linear, 

 obtuse (i' long) ; cones oval (6" -8" long), of few thin scales much longer 

 than the bracts. — Hilly or rocky woods : very common northward, and rare 

 southward in the Alleghanies. — A large tree, when young the most graceful 

 of Spruces, with a light and spreading spray, and delicate foliage, bright green 

 above, silvery underneath. Timber coarse-grained and poor. 



§ 3. Fir. (Abies of Pliny. Picea, L., not of Link.) Cones erect on the upper 

 side of spreading branches ; their scales and mostly exserted bracts deciduous from 

 the persistent axis at maturity : seeds and bark of tree with balsam-bearing vesi- 

 cles: anthers tipped with a 1 -2-pointed appendage, their cells opening by lacer- 

 ation ; pollen nearly as in Pine : leaves fat, with midrib prominent on the ivhitened 

 lower face, mostly sessile, on horizontal branches more or less spreading In two di- 

 rections, so as to seem 2-ranked. 

 4."*A. balsamea, Marshall. (Balsam Fir.) Leaves narrowly linear; 

 cones cylindrical, large (2' -4' long, 1' thick), violet-colored; the bracts obovate, 

 serrulate, tipped with an abrupt slender point, 'included or slightly projecting. — 

 Cold damp woods and swamps, New England to Fenn., Wisconsin, and north- 



