Fifty Common Trees op New York 13 



4. RED SPRUCE 



t (Picea rubra Link) 



Bed spruce is a common and valuable forest tree of the Aclirondaeks 

 and Catskills, and occasionally is found at high elevations (2000 feet) in 

 eastern New York (Schoharie, Delaware, and Otsego Counties). The 

 wood is light, close-grained, soft, -and is in great demand for chemical 

 wood pulp. It has a peculiar resonant quality that makes it exceedingly 

 valuable for the sounding boards of musical instruments. 



EED SPRUCE 

 Branehlet and cone, one-half natural size 



Bark- — very thin, peeling off in small reddish brown scales. 



Twigs — slender, reddish brown in color, coated usually with fine pale 

 hairs. 



Winter buds — small, pointed, reddish brown in color. 



Leaves- — needle-like, borne singly rather than in clusters as with the 

 pines, but coming out all around the stem, % inch long, without stalk, 

 yellowish green in color, blunt-pointed, 4-sided in cross section, remain- 

 ing on twigs from five to six years. 



Fruit — a cone, from 1% to 2 inches long, borne on a short stalk, pen- 

 dant, maturing in one year, mostly falling off before the next season. 

 Cone scales — thin, entire-margined. Seeds — dark brown in color, winged^ 

 i/s inch long, ripening in September. 



4a. Black spruce closely resembles the red spruce and covers the 

 :same general range, but is confined to swamps. 



