CHAP CXIII. 



CONI FERiE. A BIES. 



2221. 



2311 



I) 



with the wing, | in. long, T \ in. broad. Leaves f in. long ; on the tree at Drop- 

 more, twice the length of those of A. nigra, very glaucous when they first 

 come out. A tree, from 40 ft. to 50 ft. high, a native of North America. 

 Introduced in 1700; flowering in May and June. 



Variety. 



1 A. a. 2 nana Dickson of the Chester Nursery is a low-growing plant, 



apparently somewhat distinct. The specimen in the Horticultural 



Society's Garden, 10 years planted, is 3 ft. high. 



Other Varieties. Loiseleur Deslongchamps states that, according to the 



specimens of A. orientalis which Tournefort brought from the Levant, this 



alleged species cannot be separated from A. alba. He therefore introduces 



A. orientalis Tourn., Poir. Diet., vi. p. 508., and Lamb. Pin., ed. 1., ii. t. 39., 



as a variety of A. alba. We have placed it at the end of this section, in 



small type, as not having been seen by us in a living state. I* 



Description, Sf-c. The general aspect of the white spruce is much lighter 



than that of any other species of the genus. It has a tapering trunk, which, 



according to Michaux, in America, rarely exceeds 50 ft. in height, and 1 ft. or 



1 ft. 4 in. in diameter; and its branches form a regular pyramid. The bark is 



considerably lighter in colour than that of any other spruce; the leaves are 



also less numerous, longer, more pointed, at a more open angle with the 



branches, and of a pale bluish green. The male catkins are pendulous, on 



long footstalks, and of a brownish yellow. The female catkins are ovate and 



pendulous. When ripe, the cones are small, of a lengthened oval in shape, and 



a light brown colour ; the scales are loose and thin, round or bluntly pointed, 



with entire edges. The seeds are minute, with a very small wing, and ripen 



a month earlier than those of the black spruce. When the tree is agitated 



with the wind, or when the cones are gently struck with a stick, the seeds 



drop out, and fall slowly to the ground with a tremulous fluttering motion, 



resembling a cloud of small pale brown moths. The wood is inferior in 



quality to that of any of the other spruces ; and it " snaps more frequently in 



burning." The white spruce is a native of Canada, New Brunswick, and 



the district of Maine. It extends from the Lake St. John, in 48° or 49°, to 



about 70° N. lat. ; but is much less common than the black spruce is in the 



same districts. Dr. Richardson, in his Appendix to Captain Franklin's Tour 



to the North Pole, mentions A. alba as the most northerly tree that came under 



his observation ; and states that, on the Coppermine River, within 20 miles 



of the Arctic Sea, he found trees of it 20 ft. high. The wood is considered of 



little value ; but the fibres of the roots, macerated in water, are very flexible 



and tough when deprived of their pellicle, split, and cleaned ; and they are 



used, in Canada, to stitch together the canoes of birch bark (see p. 1709.), the 



seams of which are afterwards smeared over with a resin, improperly called 



gum, that distils from the tree. (Michx., and Gard. Mag., vol. vi. p. 406.) 



Mr. Lambert states that the bark is used in tanning, and the young sprigs for 



