REPORT OF THE STATE BOTANIST 
125 
regarded by botanists as a mere form or at most a mere variety. It 
was admitted into the New York Flora by Dr. Torrey on the author¬ 
ity of Michaux. He gave as its locality, “banks of the Hudson above 
Albany and in the western part of the State.” Since that time it has 
been reported from Glenville, Schenectady county, by Professor 
Pierson and from Dexter, Jefferson county, by Dr. Vasey. In 
August a single tree of it was discovered by myself near Mechanic- 
ville, Saratoga county. This discovery is more interesting because of 
the proximity of this tree to one of the localities mentioned by 
Michaux, and because of the possibility that this very tree may be a 
lineal descendant of one of the trees observed by him. Recently a 
specimen of the same variety has been sent to us by Dr. Vandenburg, 
who collected it near Fort Edward. 
Picea Canadensis (Mill) B. S. P. 
The white spruce (Picea alba Lk. of the Manual) occurs in Minerva, 
Essex county. This is the most southern station in which I have 
seen it. Some of the old cones still remained on the tree in July, but 
the ground under the tree was well strewed with fallen cones and the 
attachment of those remaining on the tree was very slight and easily 
broken. The bark of this tree contains blisters or resin reservoirs 
similar to those of the balsam, Abies balsamea , but they are less prom¬ 
inent and less numerous. The resin in them is scarcely distin¬ 
guishable in color, consistency or flavor from that of the balsam. 
Besides the white spruce and the black spruce we have in the 
State a third form, which may be a variety of the black spruce. I 
have observed it in the swamps and on the mountains of the Adiron¬ 
dack region and elsewhere. It has the slender twigs, glabrate sterig- 
mata and small cones ascribed to Picea rubra, but I hesitate to report 
it as that species, because the cones have the persistency ascribed to 
those of the black spruce. The foliage generally has the silvery green 
hue of the foliage of the balsam. The leaves are generally shorter 
than those of the black spruce and are not more acute. The tree is 
of very slow growth and very flexible. The question in my mind is 
whether it should be considered a variety of the black spruce or a 
distinct species. 
