PINE FAMILY 



Z^awj.— Spirally disposed, but crowded on the upper side of the 

 branches by the twisting of those on the lower ; they point forward 

 especially near the extremities of the branchlets. Linear, four- 

 sided, jointed at the base to short persistent sterigmata, incurved, 

 acute or acuminate At apex, with a rigid callous tip. Pale bluish- 

 green, hoary at first, becoming dark blue green at maturity, one- 

 third to three-fourths of an inch long. 



Flowers. — Aprilj May. Monoecious. Staminate flowers oblong- 

 cylindrical, axillary, one-half to three-fourths of an inch long, pedicels 

 half an inch long ; anthers pale red, becoming yellow from abun- 

 dance of pollen. Pistillate flowers oblong-cylindrical; scales broad, 

 pale red or yellow green ; bracts nearly orbicular, denticulate. 

 Ovules two, naked upon the base of each scale. 



Cones. — Oblong-cylindrical, slender, narrowed at each end, about 

 two inches long ; scales nearly orbicular, obscurely striate, margins 

 entire, pale brown, thin, lustrous, falling in autumn or early winter. 

 Seeds pale brown ; wings narrow, oblique at apex. 



Three spruces are found east of the Rocky Mountains, the 

 White, the Black and the Red. All are trees of a northern 

 range belonging to regions of short summers and long win- 

 ters, or in a southern latitude they seek high elevations. They 

 are evergreen, cone-like trees with slender spiry tops, tall 

 tapering trunks, and slender, whorled, horizontal branches 

 with branchlets twice and three times divided, and in old 

 trees pendent. The spiry tops of the spruces outlined against 

 the sky is one of the characteristics of a northern landscape. 



They differ from the pines in that their leaves are much 

 shorter and placed singly upon the branches instead of being 

 clustered in groups. The arrangement of the leaves is char- 

 acteristic. They are set thickly on all sides of the branches. 

 They are borne upon short, rhombic, woody bases called 

 sterigmata, and falling when dry, they leave the bare twigs 

 covered with low truncate projections. 



The White Spruce attains the greatest height of any of 

 the spruces, sometimes reaching one hundred and fifty feet, 

 with a trunk three feet in diameter. In the northwest it 

 touches the shore of the Arctic ocean and on the Atlantic 

 coast it extends down to southern Maine ; often growing so 

 close to the shore that it is bathed in the spray of the ocean. 

 The foliage of the White Spruce is rich and beautiful but its 



466 



