PINE FAMILY 
Flowers.—May, June; moncecious. Staminate flowers one-eighth 
inch long, in subglobose axillary aments; anthers dark red with 
nearly circular, toothed crests. Pistillate aments oblong-cylindrical 
with obovate purple scales ; bracts purple ; ovules two, naked on the 
base of each scale. 
Cones.—Terminal on short branches, pale yellow brown, oval or 
ovate; one to one and one-half inches long ; incurved at base, dis- 
charging their seeds slowly, and persistent for several years. Scales 
ridved, rounded at apex, margins pale, erose, or jagged. Seeds 
small, wings pale brown, shining, one-half inch long. 
The Black Spruce is essentially a Canadian tree growing 
abundantly in the Labrador peninsula and forming great 
forests in Manitoba. Comparatively rare in the United 
States, it is found principally along the northern border of 
New England and New York and most abundantly on the 
lake-shores in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan. It has 
very little beauty except when young. ‘Then the branches 
form a most regular and symmetrical outline, but as age 
comes on it loses its youthful vigor and beauty and be- 
comes prematurely old, misshapen, and unsightly. In the 
forest all the lower branches fall off leaving a columnar 
shaft which is crowned by a small open irregular head. 
The Black Spruce derives its name from the dark green 
of its foliage which when massed upon a mountain-side and 
in shadow is of so sombre a hue as to appear black rather 
than green. The name is given in distinction from the White 
Spruce whose leaves are of a paler color. In the early 
botanies the Black and the White Spruce were designated re- 
spectively as double and single spruce, for reasons which are 
not apparent, as the disposition of the leaves of each is the 
same. In fact, these two species bear such resemblance to 
each other that it is not always easy to distinguish them ; 
the cones furnish the principal distinctive feature when the 
flowering season is past. ‘The cones of the Black Spruce are 
ovate-oblong, have great staying powers, are always on the 
trees at the flowering time and usually persist for several 
years. The cones of the White Spruce on the other hand 
are oblong or cylindrical and usually fall before the flower- 
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