362 Xi^"^^' EXGLAXD TREES IX AVIXTER. 



BLACK SPRUCE 



Swamp, Bog, Water or Double Spruce. 



Picea mariana OlilE) BSP. 

 P. nio'ra Link ; P. hrevifoUa Peek. 



H-VBIT— In Xew England iigually a small slender tree lO-^IO ft. in 

 height with a trunk diameter of o-S inehes. muuh larger northward ami 

 westward reduced to a shrub 2-5 ft. in height at hig'h altitudes; with 

 relatively short, generally scattered branches, horizontal or usually 

 declined'and curying upward at the ends: in open-grown trees, basal 

 branches frequently resting on the grotmd, taking root and sending up 

 shoots; cruwn an irregular open narruw-based cone; fuliage bluish- 

 g-reen. 



BARK — Grayish-brown, flaky, with thin scales. 



TAVIGS Brown or yellowish-brown, more or less densely coyered with 



short rusty to black hairs. 



LEAF-SC\RS — Alternate, more than ^-ranked on strongly projecting 

 decurrent ridges of the bark. BUXDLE-SCARS — single. 



LEAA'ES — Bluish-green, 4-angled. 5-15 mm. long, blunt-pointed, 

 straight or slightly incurved, without proper leaf-stalks. 



Bl'DS — Ovate, pointed, reddish -brown. 



FRUIT — Ovate cones, ^2 to l^^ inches long becoming nearly spherical 

 when open, on short strongly recurved stalks generally remaining on 

 the tree fur many years. SCALES — stiff, thin; margin rounded, uneven, 

 ragged, toothed or rarely entire. 



COMPARISONS — The Black Spruce closely resembles the Red Spruce 

 from whi(.-h it may be distinguished by its shorter, more nearly spherical 

 cones which generally remain for many years on the tree, by the more 

 ragged edging of the cone-scales, by the bluish-green color of its foliage- 

 and by its habitat in swampy land. Extreme forms of the two species 

 are sijiflficiently distinct but they are often difheult to distinguish eyen 

 In the fruiting condition. 



DISTRinUTIOX — Swamps, sphagnum bogs, shores of rivers and ponds, 

 v,'et. rock\" hiUsirli-s ; not uncnmmon, espeeiall>' northward, on dry up- 

 lands and mountain slopes. Labrador, Newfoundland, and Nova Scotia, 

 ■u'estward beyond the Rocky mountains, extending" nurthward along the 

 tributaries of the Yukon in Alaska. 



IN NEW ENGLAND — Maine — common throughout, covering extensive 

 areas almost to the exclusion of other trees in the eentral and northern 

 sections, occasional on the top of Ivatahdin (5.215 ft.); New Hampshire 

 and Vermont — -common in sphagnum swamps of low and high altitudes; 

 the d^'arf fiiirm. var. semiprostrata, occurs on the summit of Mt. Mans- 

 field: Massachusetts — frequent; Rhode Island— not reported. 



IN C0XNE<:TTCI'T — Swamps and sphagnum bog-.s. Rare or local over 

 most _of the state but absent near the coast. Usually a small stunted 

 tree o to 1' ft. high but growing much larger in the cool swamps of 

 Litchfield eounty. In open bogs the trees often produce cones when 

 not more than 5 ft. high, and the cones persist on the tree for many 

 years. 



\VOOD — Light, soft, not strong, pale yellowish-white, with thin sap- 

 wood probably rarely used outside of Manitoba and Saskatchewan 

 except in the manufacture of paper pulp. Spruce gum is gathered from 



this and the other New England spruces. Sprnue beer is made by 

 boiling the bran<.-lies nf the Black and Red Spruces. 



