290 



The Black Spruce. 



said to grow also in New England. It has a silvery or 

 glaucous hue to the foliage on which account it is some- 

 times mistaken for the white spruce. Its cones, however, 

 have the shape of ordinary black-spruce cones and enable 

 us to correct a very natural mistake. The cause of this 

 variation is not easily perceived unless it is the result of 

 cross fertilization between the black and the white spruce. 

 The two preceding forms manifestly depend upon the 

 character of the soil. 



A large form with cones of unusual size and wood of 

 soft texture was once described as a distinct species. It 

 received the name Abies rubra or red spruce, but it is now 

 deemed only a variety of the black spruce. Its range is 

 northward. According to Michaux, in Nova Scotia its 

 wood is used in making fish barrels on account of the ease 

 with which it is worked. 



But the most remarkable variety is found on the highest 

 summits of the Adirondacks. Remarkable as it is I have 

 seen no description nor even mention of it in our botanies. 

 It is the variation of the tree into a mere procumbent 

 shrub, so small that it offers but little impediment to him 

 who would walk over it. These bushes are more or less 

 flattened in outline, the branches issuing mainly from the 

 two opposite sides of the trunk as in the ground hemlock. 

 They grow in dense patches completely covering the 

 ground, and in numerous instances with their apices all 

 pointing the same way. Thej- have the short iuternodes and 

 the short pale leaves of the bastard or sphagnous marsh 

 variety. Sometimes the leaves are tinged with a glaucous 

 hue as in the variety previously mentioned. I have never 

 seen cones on this dwarf form nor is it probable that it 

 ever produces them. Its stunted form speaks plainly of 

 the struggle of a hardy plant for existence in unfavorable 

 conditions. A thin soil, the prevailing low temperature 

 of high altitudes, fierce blasts of winds and the crushing 

 weight of heavy snows all conspire to keep down anything 



