1378 The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland 



Cones, ovoid-oblong, li to 2 in. long, green or purplish green when growing, 

 shining reddish brown when mature, usually falling in the second summer : scales 

 f in. broad, rounded entire or denticulate at the thin upper margin: bract 

 inconspicuous, oblanceolate, about | in. long. Seeds mottled dark brown, about 

 I in. long, with wings broadest near the rounded apex, the total length of seed and 

 wing being about | in. 



Varieties 



1. Picea australis, Small, Flora S.E. United States, 30 (1903), is probably a 

 variety ^ of the red spruce, which differs in bearing small cones that are said to fall 

 directly after shedding their seed. Large trees of this kind, attaining 130 ft. 

 in height, are reported to occur on the summits and rocky slopes of mountains in 

 Virginia and North Carolina. 



2. A solitary red spruce,^ with snake-like branches, similar in habit to P. excelsa, 

 var. virgata, was discovered in 1892, near Williamstown, in north-western Massa- 

 chusetts. From it young plants were raised by grafts in the Arnold Arboretum. 



Distribution 



The red spruce has a much more southerly distribution than the black spruce,' 

 and does not extend farther north than Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia. 

 It is widely spread in New England,* through Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, 

 and northern Massachusetts ; but is not known in Rhode Island and Connecticut. 

 In New York, especially in the Adirondacks, it forms extensive forests ; and 

 extends through the Alleghany Mountains southward through Pennsylvania and 

 West Virginia to the high peaks of North Carolina. Pinchot ^ has given a complete 

 account of this species, which provides the only merchantable spruce timber in the 

 United States ; and states that it is remarkable for its tolerance of dense shade and 

 its capacity for recovering after years of suppression. In the Adirondacks, it ascends 

 to 4500 ft., and is often seen on steep southern slopes ; but elsewhere is mixed with 

 balsam fir, hemlock, white pine, birch, maples, and beech. (A. H.) 



Cultivation 



The red spruce was first accurately described and figured by Lambert from 

 a tree growing in England, which was said to have been brought from Newfound- 

 land. According to Aiton,Mt was cultivated near London by Miller before 1755; 

 but it is doubtful if this tree was distinguished from the black spruce at that date. 



P. rubra is rare in collections, the only large trees which we have seen being 



' Cf. Britton and Shafer, North American Trees, 58 (1908). 



2 Figured in Garden and Forest, viii. 45, fig. 7 (1895). This is identical with Picea nigra. Link, var. virgata, Rehder, 

 m Bailey, Cycl. Am. Hort. iii. 1334 (1901), corrected to P. rubra forma virgata, Rehder, in Rhodora, ix. no (1907). Cf. 

 Mitt. Deut. Dend. Ges. 1 907, p. 116. 



3 Keiler, Our Native Trees, 470 (1907) says : "Black spruce is a tree of the far north, existing but precariously south 

 of the northern boundary of the United States; while red spruce is an Appalachian tree, attaining its greatest dimensions in 

 northern New Hampshire and Pennsylvania." 4 Dame and Brooks, Trees of New England, 14 (1902) 



The Adirondack Spruce, pp. 1-157 (1898). 6 Hort. Kew. v. 319 (1813). 



