PINE FAMILY 
Leaves.—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.—April, May. Moneecious. 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. ‘lhearrangement 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 ot 
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 
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