216 TREES OF MINNESOTA. 
Larix europea. European Larch. 
Leaves longer than those of the Tamarack, and of a brighter 
green color. Cones longer than those of the Tamarack. A 
large and important timber tree. 
Distribution.—Native of northern and central Europe, on moist 
mountain sides. 
Propertics of Wood.—Hard, strong, tough, very durable in 
contact with the soil. Specific gravity, 0.62. 
Uses——The European Larch has been largely planted in the 
Eastern States in small timber plantations, for windbreaks and 
ornament. It is superior to our native Larch for these purposes, 
but has not succeeded well on our Western prairies, probably on 
account of the dry climate. On moist soil in somewhat sheltered 
locations it often does well, and becomes a graceful, pretty tree. 
Very large and successful plantations of this tree have been 
made in Scotland and other European countries, but in some 
parts of Germany the Japanese Larch is preferred, as it is not so 
much infested with insects. The lumber is used for posts, tele- 
graph poles, piles, beams and joists and in ship building. The 
bark is used in tanning leather. One tree, grown at Owatonna, 
Minnesota, attained a height of about fifty feet and a diameter 
of fifteen inches in thirty years, but so rapid a growth is uncom- 
mon here. 
Genus PICEA. 
Leaves evergreen, scattered, not grouped in sheaths, jointed 
on a persistent base, needle shaped, generally four-angled, short, 
pointing every way, and all of one kind. Flowers appear, in 
spring, monoecious; the staminate catkins in the axils of the 
leaves of the preceding year; the pistillate catkins terminal ovoid 
or oblong. Fruit a cone, maturing the first year, pendulous with 
thin tough scales that open when ripe and dry, to liberate the 
two, winged seeds, found at the base of each scale. Trees tall 
and pyramidal or conical in form. 
Picea canadensis. (7. alba.) White Spruce. 
Leaves slender, one-half to one inch long, varying in color 
from light glaucous to dark green, falling during fourth and fifth 
seasons. Cones oblong, one to two inches in length, deciduous 
