Fig. 33
Leavesin crowded clusters, thick, rigid, dark yellow-green, 4′—6′ long, beginning to fall in their second year.Flowers: male in elongated spikes, orange-colored; female short-stalked, whorled, 2 whorls often being produced on the shoot of the year.Fruitovoid, oblique at base, sessile, in clusters of 3—5 or sometimes of 7, 2′—3½′ but usually about 3′ long, becoming light chestnut-brown and lustrous, with scales much thickened on theoutside of the cone, those toward its base produced into stout incurved knobs sometimes armed with stout flattened spur-like often incurved spines, and on the inside of the cone slightly flattened and armed with stout or slender straight prickles; often remaining closed for several years and usually persistent on the stem and branches during the entire life of the tree without becoming imbedded in the wood;seedsnearly triangular, ¼′ long, with a thin nearly black roughened shell, their wings broadest above the middle, oblique at apex, nearly 1′ long, ⅛′ wide.
A tree, usually 40°—50° but occasionally 90° high, with a trunk 2°—3° in diameter, thick spreading branches covered with dark scaly bark, in youth forming a regular pyramid, and at maturity a handsome compact round-topped head of dense tufted foliage, and stout branchlets dark orange-green at first, turning orange-brown more or less tinged with purple.Barkof the lower part of the trunk often 4′—6′ thick and deeply divided into long narrow rounded ridges roughened by closely appressed dark purplish brown scales.Woodlight, very strong, hard, rather coarse-grained, light brown, with thick nearly white sapwood; occasionally manufactured into lumber.
Distribution.California coast region from Mendocino County southward, usually in widely separated localities to Point Reyes Peninsula, north of the Bay of San Francisco, and from Monterey to Coon Creek, San Luis Obispo County; in Lower California on Cedros Island and on the west coast between Ensenada and San Quentin; of its largest size and the common Pine-tree on the coast of Mendocino County.
Fig. 34
Leavesin crowded clusters, rigid, usually twisted, dark blue-green, 1¼′—2½′ long, deciduous during their second and third years.Flowers: male in elongated loose spikes, yellow; female clustered, long-stalked.Fruitovoid-conic, oblique at base by the greater development of the scales on the outer than on the inner side, sessile, reflexed, in clusters usually of 3 or 4, or rarely of 7 or 8, 2′—3½′ long, becoming light brown and lustrous, with thin tough scales armed with stout hooked curved spines produced from much thickened mammillate knobs, opening as soon as ripe and gradually shedding their seeds, or often remaining closed for two or three years longer, and frequently persistent on the branches for eighteen or twenty years;seedsalmost triangular, full and rounded on the sides, nearly ¼′ long, with a thin conspicuously roughened light brown shell, their wings widest below the middle, gradually narrowed to the ends, 1′ long, ¼′ wide.
A tree, when crowded in the forest occasionally 60° high, with a trunk 2°—3° in diameter, and a few short branches near the summit forming a narrow round-topped head; in open ground usually 20°—30° tall, and often fertile when only a few feet high, with a short thick trunk frequently clothed to the ground, and long horizontal branches, the lower pendulous toward the extremities, the upper sweeping in graceful upward curves and forming a flat-topped often irregular head, and stout branchlets, light orange color when they first appear,soon growing darker and ultimately dark brown.Barkon the lower part of the trunk ¾′—1′ thick and broken into irregularly shaped plates separating on the surface into thin loose dark brown scales tinged with red, higher on the stem, and on the branches dark brown and broken into thin loose scales.Woodlight, soft, not strong, brittle, very coarse-grained, pale brown, with thick nearly white sapwood; somewhat used for fuel, and in Pennsylvania manufactured into charcoal.
Distribution.Dry gravelly slopes and ridges of the Appalachian Mountains from southern Pennsylvania to North Carolina, eastern Tennessee and northern Georgia, sometimes ascending to elevations of 3000°, with isolated outlying stations in eastern Pennsylvania, western New Jersey, Maryland, the District of Columbia and Virginia; often forming toward the southern limits of its range pure forests of considerable extent.
Fig. 35
Leavesforming great tufts at the ends of the branches, stout, dark green, conspicuously marked on the 3 faces by numerous rows of stomata, 8′—13′ long.Flowersfrom January to March; male yellow, in short dense heads; female subterminal on long stout peduncles.Fruitbroad-ovoid, spreading or reflexed on long stalks, 4′—6′ in length, becoming deep chestnut-brown, with thick scales armed with minute spines; mostly deciduous in their fourth year and in falling leaving a few of the barren scales on the stalk attached to the branch; seeds oval, more or less angled, ¾′—1′ long, dull brown and mottled on the lower side, light yellow-brown on the upper side, with a thick hard shell, nearly surrounded by their dark brown wings often nearly ½′ long.
A tree, usually 30°—40° high, with a short trunk about 1° in diameter, or occasionally 50°—60° tall, with a long straight slightly tapering stem 2½° in diameter, stout spreading and often ascending branches, and very stout branchlets bright green in their first season, becoming light purple and covered with a metallic bloom the following year, ultimately nearly black.Bark¾′—1′ thick, deeply and irregularly divided into broad flat ridges covered by large thin closely appressed light red-brown scales.Woodlight, soft, not strong, coarse-grained, light yellow, with thick yellow or nearly white sapwood; occasionally used for fuel. The large edible seeds are gathered in large quantities and are eaten raw or roasted.
Distribution.Only in a narrow belt a few miles long on the coast near the mouth of the Soledad River just north of San Diego and on the island of Santa Rosa, California; the least widely distributed Pine-tree of the United States.
Now planted in the parks of San Diego, California, and in New Zealand, growing rapidly in cultivation, and promising to attain a much larger size than on its native cliffs.
Tall pyramidal trees, with thick sometimes furrowed scaly bark, heavy heartwood, thin pale sapwood, slender remote horizontal often pendulous branches, elongated leading branchlets, short thick spur-like lateral branchlets, and small subglobose buds, their inner scales accrescent and marking the lateral branchlets with prominent ring-like scars. Leaves awl-shaped, triangular and rounded above, or rarely 4-angled, spirally disposed and remote on leading shoots, on lateral branchlets in crowded fascicles, each leaf in the axil of a deciduous bud-scale, deciduous. Flowers solitary, terminal, the staminate globose, oval or oblong, sessile or stalked, on leafless branches, yellow, composed of numerous spirally arranged anthers with connectives produced above them into short points, the pistillate appearing with the leaves, short-oblong to oblong, composed of few or many green nearly orbicular stalked scales in the axes of much longer mucronate usually scarlet bracts. Fruit a woody ovoid-oblong conic or subglobose short-stalked cone composed of slightly thickened suborbicular or oblong-obovate concave scales, shorter or longer than their bracts, gradually decreasing from the centre to the ends of the cone, the small scales usually sterile. Seeds nearly triangular, rounded on the sides, shorter than their wings; the outer seed-coat crustaceous, light brown, the inner membranaceous, pale chestnut-brown and lustrous; cotyledons usually 6, much shorter than the inferior radicle.
Larix is widely distributed over the northern and mountainous region of the northern hemisphere from the Arctic Circle to the mountains of West Virginia and Oregon in the New World, and to central Europe, the Himalayas, Siberia, Korea, western China, and Japan in the Old World. Ten species are recognized. Of the exotic species the EuropeanLarix decidua, Mill., has been much planted for timber and ornament in the northeastern states, where the JapaneseLarix Kœmpferi, Sarg., also flourishes.
Larixis the classical name of the Larch-tree.
Larix americanaMichx.
Fig. 36
Leaveslinear, triangular, rounded above, prominently keeled on the lower surface, ¾′—1¼′ long, bright green, conspicuously stomatiferous when they first appear; turning yellow and falling in September or October.Flowers:male subglobose and sessile; female oblong, with light-colored bracts produced into elongated green tips, and nearly orbicular rose-red scales.Fruiton stout incurved stems, subglobose, rather obtuse, ½′—¾′ long, composed of about 20 scales slightly erose on their nearly entire margins, rather longer than broad and twice as long as their bracts, bright chestnut-brown at maturity; usually falling during their second year;seeds⅛′ long, about one third as long as their light chestnut-brown wings broadest near the middle and obliquely rounded at apex.
A tree, 50°—60° high, with a trunk 18′—20′ in diameter, small horizontal branches forming during the early life of the tree a narrow regular pyramidal head always characteristic of this tree when crowded in the forest, or with abundant space sweeping out in gracefulcurves, often becoming contorted and pendulous and forming a broad open frequently picturesque head, and slender leading branchlets often covered at first with a glaucous bloom, becoming light orange-brown during their first winter and conspicuous from the small globose dark red lustrous buds.Bark½′—¾′ thick, separating into thin closely appressed rather bright reddish brown scales.Woodheavy, hard, very strong, rather coarse-grained, very durable, light brown; largely used for the upper knees of small vessels, fence-posts, telegraph-poles, and railway-ties.
Distribution.At the north often on well-drained uplands, southward in cold deep swamps which it often clothes with forests of closely crowded trees, from Labrador to the Arctic Circle, ranging west of the Rocky Mountains to latitude 65° 35′ north, and southward through Canada and the northern states to northern and eastern Pennsylvania, Garrett County, Maryland (Oakland to Thayerville), and Preston County, West Virginia (Cranesville Swamp), northern Indiana and Illinois, and northeastern Minnesota; along the eastern foothills of the Rocky Mountains to about latitude 53° and between the Yukon River and Cook Inlet, Alaska (Larix alaskensisWight.); very abundant in the interior of Labrador, where it is the largest tree; common along the margins of the barren lands stretching beyond the sub-Arctic forest to the shores of the Arctic Sea; attaining its largest size north of Lake Winnipeg on low benches which it occasionally covers with open forests; on the eastern slopes of the northern Rocky Mountains usually at elevation from 600°—1700° above the sea; rare and local toward the southern limits of its range.
Occasionally planted as an ornamental tree in the northeastern states, growing rapidly and attaining in cultivation a large size and picturesque habit.
Fig. 37
Leavestriangular, rounded on the back, conspicuously keeled below, rigid, sharp-pointed, 1′—1¾′ long, about1/32′ wide, light pale green, turning pale yellow early in the autumn.Flowers: male short-oblong; female oblong, nearly sessile, with orbicular scales and bracts produced into elongated tips.Fruitoblong, short-stalked, 1′—1½′ long, with numerous thin stiff scales nearly entire and sometimes a little reflexed on their margins, much shorter than their bracts, more or less thickly coated on the lower surface below the middle with hoary tomentum, and standing after the escape of the seeds at right angles to the axis of the cone, or often becoming reflexed;seedsnearly ¼′ long, with a pale brown shell, one half to two thirds as long as the thin fragile pale wings broadest near the middle and obliquely rounded at apex.
A tree, sometimes 180° high, with a tall tapering naked trunk 6°—8° in diameter, or on dry soil and exposed mountain slopes usually not more than 100° tall, with a short narrow pyramidal head of small branches clothed with scanty foliage, or occasionally with a larger crown of elongated drooping branches, stout branchlets covered when they first appear with soft pale pubescence, usually soon glabrous, bright orange-brown in their first year, ultimately becoming dark gray-brown, and dark chestnut-brown winter-buds about ⅛′ in diameter.Barkof young stems thin, dark-colored and scaly, becoming near the base of old trunks 5′ or 6′ thick and broken into irregularly shaped oblong plates often 2° long and covered with thin closely appressed light cinnamon-red scales.Woodvery heavy, exceedingly hard and strong, close-grained, very durable in contact with the soil, bright light red, with thin nearly white sapwood; largely used for railway-ties and fence-posts, and manufactured into lumber used in cabinet-making and the interior finish of buildings.
Distribution.Moist bottom-lands and on high benches and dry mountain sides generally at elevations between 2000° and 7000° above sea-level, usually singly or in small groves, through the basin of the upper Columbia River from southern British Columbia to the western slopes of the continental divide of northern Montana, and to the eastern slopes of the Cascade Mountains of Washington and northern Oregon; most abundant and of its largest size on the bottom-lands of streams flowing into Flat Head Lake in northern Montana, and in northern Idaho.
Occasionally planted in the eastern states and in Europe, but in cultivation showing little promise of attaining a large size or becoming a valuable ornamental or timber-tree.
Fig. 38
Leaves4-angled, rigid, short-pointed, pale blue-green, 1′—1½′ long.Flowers: male short-oblong; female ovoid-oblong, with dark red or occasionally pale yellow-green scales and dark purple bracts abruptly contracted into elongated slender tips.Fruitovoid, rather acute, 1½′—2′ long, subsessile or raised on a slender stalk coated with hoary tomentum, with dark reddish purple or rarely green erose scales, fringed and covered on their lower surface with matted hairs at maturity spreading nearly at right angles and finally much reflexed, much shorter than their dark purple very conspicuous long-tipped bracts;seedsfull and rounded on the sides, ⅛′ long and about half as long as their light red lustrous wings broadest near the base with nearly parallel sides.
A tree, usually 25°—50° high, with a trunk generally 18′—20′ but rarely 3°—4° in diameter, and remote elongated exceedingly tough persistent branches sometimes pendulous, developing very irregularly and often abruptly ascending at the extremities, stout branchletscoated with hoary tomentum usually persistent until after their second winter, ultimately becoming nearly black, and prominent winter-buds with conspicuous long white matted hairs fringing the margins of their scales and often almost entirely covering the bud.Barkof young trees and of the branches thin, rather lustrous, smooth, and pale gray tinged with yellow, becoming loose and scaly on larger stems and on the large branches of old trees, and on fully grown trunks ½′—¾′ thick and slightly divided by shallow fissures into irregularly shaped plates covered by thin dark-red brown loosely attached scales.Woodheavy, hard, coarse-grained, light reddish brown.
Distribution.Near the timber-line on mountain slopes at elevations of 4000°—8000°, from southern Alberta on the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains and from the interior of southern British Columbia, southward along the eastern slopes of the Cascade Mountains of northern Washington to Mt. Stewart at the head of the north fork of the Yakima River, and along the continental divide to the middle fork of Sun River, Montana, forming here a forest of considerable size at elevations of 7000°—8000°, and on the Bitter Root Mountains to the headwaters of the south fork of the Clearwater River, Idaho.
Pyramidal trees, with tall tapering trunks often stoutly buttressed at the base, thin scaly bark, soft pale wood containing numerous resin-canals, slender whorled twice or thrice ramified branches, their ultimate divisions stout, glabrous or pubescent, and leaf-buds usually in 3’s, the 2 lateral in the axils of upper leaves. Leaves linear, spirally disposed, extending out from the branch on all sides or occasionally appearing 2-ranked by the twisting of those on its lower side, mostly pointing to the end of the branch, entire, articulate on prominent persistent rhomboid ultimately woody bases, keeled above and below, 4-sided and stomatiferous on the 4 sides, or flattened and stomatiferous on the upper and occasionally on the lower side, persistent from seven to ten years, deciduous in drying. Flowers terminal or in the axils of upper leaves, the male usually long-stalked, composed of numerous spirally arranged anthers with connectives produced into broad nearly circular toothed crests, the female oblong, oval or cylindric, with rounded or pointed scales, each in the axis of an accrescent bract shorter than the scale at maturity. Fruit an ovoid or oblong, cylindric pendant cone, crowded on the upper branches or in some species scattered over the upper half of the tree. Seeds ovoid or oblong, usually acute at base, much shorter than their wings; outer seed-coat crustaceous, light or dark brown, the inner membranaceous, pale chestnut-brown; cotyledons 4—15.
Picea is widely distributed through the colder and temperate regions of the northern hemisphere, some species forming great forests on plains and high mountain slopes. Thirty-seven species are now recognized, ranging from the Arctic Circle to the slopes of the southern Appalachian Mountains and to those of northern New Mexico and Arizona in the New World, and to central and southeastern Europe, the Caucasus, the Himalayas, western China, Formosa and Japan. Of exotic species the so-called Norway Spruce,Picea AbiesKarst., one of the most valuable timber-trees of Europe, has been largely planted for ornament and shelter in the eastern states, where the CaucasianPicea orientalisCarr., and some of the Japanese species also flourish.
Piceawas probably the classical name of the Spruce-tree.
Fig. 39
Leavesslightly incurved above the middle, abruptly contracted at apex into short callous tips, pale blue-green and glaucous at maturity, ¼′—¾′ long, hoary on the upper surface from the broad bands of stomata, and lustrous and slightly stomatiferous on the lower surface.Flowers: male subglobose, with dark red anthers; female oblong-cylindric, with obovate purple scales rounded above, and oblong purple glaucous bracts rounded and denticulate at apex.Fruitovoid, pointed, gradually narrowed at the base into short strongly incurved stalks, ½′—1½′ long, with rigid puberulous scales rounded or rarely somewhat pointed at apex and more or less erose on the notched pale margins, turning as they ripen dull gray-brown and becoming as the scales gradually open and slowly discharge their seeds almost globose; sometimes remaining on the branches for twenty or thirty years, the oldest close to the base of the branches near the trunk;seedsoblong, narrowed to the acute base, about ⅛′ long, very dark brown, with delicate pale brown wings broadest above the middle, very oblique at the apex, about ½′ long, ⅛′ wide.
A tree, usually 20°—30° and occasionally 100° high, with a trunk 6′—12′ and rarely 3° in diameter, and comparatively short branches generally pendulous with upward curves, forming an open irregular crown, light green branchlets coated with pale pubescence, soon beginning to grow darker, and during their first winter light cinnamon-brown and covered with short rusty pubescence, their thin brown bark gradually becoming glabrous and beginning to break into small thin scales during their second year; at the extreme northsometimes cone-bearing when only 2°—3° high.Winter-budsovoid, acute, light reddish brown, puberulous, about ⅛′ long.Bark¼′—½′ thick and broken on the surface into thin rather closely appressed gray-brown scales.Woodlight, soft, not strong, pale yellow-white, with thin sapwood; probably rarely used outside of Manitoba and Saskatchewan, except in the manufacture of paper pulp. Spruce-gum, the resinous exudations of the Spruce-trees of northeastern America, is gathered in considerable quantities principally in northern New England and Canada, and is used as a masticatory. Spruce-beer is made by boiling the branches of the Black and Red Spruces.
Distribution.At the north on well-drained bottom-lands and the slopes of barren stony hills, and southward in sphagnum-covered bogs, swamps, and on their borders, from Labrador to the valley of the Mackenzie River in about latitude 65° north, and, crossing the Rocky Mountains, through the interior of Alaska to the valley of White River; southward through Newfoundland, the maritime provinces, eastern Canada and the northeastern United States to central Pennsylvania, and along the Alleghany Mountains to northern Virginia; and from the eastern foothills of the Rocky Mountains in Alberta, through northern Saskatchewan and northern Manitoba, and south to northeastern and northern Minnesota, and central Wisconsin and Michigan; very abundant at the far north and the largest coniferous tree of Saskatchewan and northern Manitoba, covering here large areas and growing to its largest size; common in Newfoundland and all the provinces of eastern Canada except southern Ontario; in the United States less abundant, of small size, and usually only in cold sphagnum swamps (var.brevifoliaRehd.)
Occasionally planted as an ornamental tree, the Black Spruce is short-lived in cultivation and one of the least desirable of all Spruce-trees for the decoration of parks and gardens.
Picea rubensSarg.
Fig. 40
Leavesmore or less incurved above the middle, acute or rounded and furnished at the apex with short callous points, dark green often slightly tinged with yellow, very lustrous, marked on the upper surface by 4 rows and on the lower less conspicuously by 2 rows of stomata on each side of the prominent midrib, ½′—⅝′ long, nearly1/16′ wide.Flowers: male oval, almost sessile, bright red; female oblong-cylindric, with thin rounded scales reflexed and slightly erose on their margins, and obovate bracts rounded and laciniate above.Fruiton very short straight or incurved stalks, ovoid-oblong, gradually narrowed from near the middle to the acute apex, 1¼′—2′ long, with rigid puberulous scales entire or slightly toothed at the apex; bright green or green somewhat tinged with purple whenfully grown, becoming light reddish brown and lustrous at maturity, beginning to fall as soon as the scales open in the autumn or early winter, and generally disappearing from the branches the following summer;seedsdark brown, about ⅛′ long, with short broad wings full and rounded above the middle.
A tree, usually 70°—80° and occasionally 100° high, with a trunk 2°—3° in diameter, branches long-persistent on the stem and clothing it to the ground, forming a narrow rather conical head, or soon disappearing below from trees crowded in the forest, stout pubescent light green branchlets, becoming bright reddish brown or orange-brown during their first winter, glabrous the following year, and covered in their third or fourth year with scaly bark.Winter-budsovoid, acute, ¼′—⅓′ long, with light reddish brown scales.Bark¼′—½′ thick, and broken into thin closely appressed irregularly shaped red-brown scales.Woodlight, soft, close-grained, not strong, pale slightly tinged with red, with paler sapwood usually about 2′ thick; largely manufactured into lumber in the northeastern states, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, and used for the flooring and construction of houses, for the sounding-boards of musical instruments, and in the manufacture of paper-pulp.
Distribution.Well-drained uplands and mountain slopes, often forming a large part of extensive forests, from Prince Edward Island and the valley of the St. Lawrence southward to the coast of Massachusetts, along the interior hilly part of New England, New York, and northern Pennsylvania and on the slopes of the Alleghany Mountains at elevations above 2500 feet from West Virginia to North Carolina and Tennessee.
Occasionally planted in the eastern states and in Europe as an ornamental tree, but growing in cultivation more slowly than any other Spruce-tree.
Picea canadensisB. S. P.
Fig. 41
Leavescrowded on the upper side of the branches by the twisting of those on the lower side, incurved, acute or acuminate with rigid callous tips, pale blue and hoary when they first appear, becoming dark blue-green or pale blue, marked on each of the 4 sides by 3 or 4 rows of stomata, ⅓′—¾′ long.Flowers: male pale red, soon appearing yellow from the thick covering of pollen; female oblong-cylindric, with round nearly entire pale red or yellow-green scales, broader than long, and nearly orbicular denticulate bracts.Fruitnearly sessile or borne on short thin straight stems, oblong-cylindric, slender, slightly narrowed to the ends, rather obtuse at apex, usually about 2′ long, pale green sometimes tinged with red when fully grown, becoming at maturity pale brown and lustrous, with nearly orbicular scales, rounded, truncate, and slightly emarginate, or rarely narrowed at apex, and very thin, flexible and elastic at maturity, usually deciduous in the autumn or during the following winter;seedsabout ⅛′ long, pale brown, with narrow wings gradually widened from the base to above the middle and very oblique at the apex.
A tree, with disagreeable smelling foliage, rarely more than 60°—70° tall, with a trunknot more than 2° in diameter, long comparatively thick branches densely clothed with stout rigid laterals sweeping out in graceful upward curves, and forming a broad-based rather open pyramid often obtuse at the apex, stout glabrous branchlets orange-brown during their first autumn and winter, gradually growing darker grayish brown.Winter-budsbroadly ovoid, obtuse, covered by light chestnut-brown scales with thin often reflexed ciliate margins.Bark¼′—½′ thick, separating irregularly into thin plate-like light gray scales more or less tinged with brown.Woodlight, soft, not strong, straight-grained light yellow, with hardly distinguishable sapwood; manufactured into lumber in the eastern provinces of Canada and in Alaska, and used in construction, for the interior finish of buildings, and for paper-pulp.
Distribution.Banks and borders of streams and lakes, ocean cliffs, and in the north the rocky slopes of low hills, from Labrador along the northern frontier of the forest nearly to the shores of the Arctic Sea, reaching Behring Strait in 66° 44′ north latitude, and southward down the Atlantic coast to southern Maine, northern New Hampshire, Vermont, and New York, shores of Saginaw Bay, Michigan, northern Wisconsin and Minnesota, and through the interior of Alaska.
The variety (var.albertianaSarg.) of the Gaspé Peninsula and the valleys of the Black Hills of South Dakota and of the Rocky Mountains of northern Wyoming, Montana, Alberta and northward, is a tree with a narrow pyramidal head, sometimes 150° high, with a trunk 3° to 4° in diameter, and shorter and rather broader cones than those of the typical White Spruce of the east, although not shorter or as short as the cones of that tree in the extreme north.
Often planted in Canada, northern New England, and northern Europe as an ornamental tree; in southern New England and southward suffering from heat and dryness.
Fig. 42
Leavessoft and flexible, with acute callous tips, slender, nearly straight or slightly incurved on vigorous sterile branches, stouter, shorter, and more incurved on fertile branches, 1′—1⅛′ long, marked on each face by 3—5 rows of stomata, covered at first with a glaucous bloom, soon becoming dark blue-green or pale steel-blue.Flowers: male dark purple; female bright scarlet, with pointed or rounded and more or less divided scales, and oblong bracts rounded or acute or acuminate and denticulate at apex or obovate-oblong and abruptly acuminate.Fruitoblong-cylindric to ellipsoidal, gradually narrowed to the ends, usually about 2′ long, sessile or very short-stalked, produced in great numbers on the upper branches, horizontal and ultimately pendulous, light green somewhat tinged with scarlet when fully grown, becoming light chestnut-brown and lustrous, with thin flexible slightly concave scales, generally erose-dentate or rarely almost entire on the margins, usually broadest at the middle, wedge-shaped below, and gradually contracted above into a truncate or acute apex, or occasionally obovate and rounded above; mostly deciduous in the autumn or early in their first winter soon after the escape of the seeds;seedsobtuseat the base, nearly black, about ⅛′ long and much shorter than their broad very oblique wings.
A tree, with disagreeable smelling foliage sometimes 120° high, with a trunk 3° in diameter, spreading branches produced in regular whorls and forming a narrow compact pyramidal head, gracefully hanging short lateral branches, and comparatively slender branchlets pubescent for three or four years, light or dark orange-brown or gray tinged with brown during their first winter, their bark beginning to separate into small flaky scales in their fourth or fifth year; at its highest altitudes low and stunted with elongated branches pressed close to the ground.Winter-budsconic or slightly obtuse, with pale chestnut-brown scales scarious and often free and slightly reflexed on the margins.Bark¼′—½′ thick, light cinnamon-red, and broken into large thin loose scales.Woodlight, soft, not strong, close-grained, pale yellow tinged with red, with thick hardly distinguishable sapwood; largely manufactured into lumber used in the construction of buildings; also employed for fuel and charcoal. The bark is sometimes employed in tanning leather.
Distribution.High mountain slopes, often forming great forests from the mountains of Alberta, British Columbia and Alaska, southward over the interior mountain systems of the continent to southern New Mexico (the Sacramento Mountains) and northern Arizona, from elevations of 5000° at the north up to 11,500° and occasionally to 12,000° at the south, and westward through Montana and Idaho to the eastern slopes of the Cascade Mountains of Washington and Oregon; attaining its greatest size and beauty north of the northern boundary of the United States.
Occasionally planted as an ornamental tree in the New England states and northern Europe, where it grows vigorously and promises to attain a large size; usually injured in western Europe by spring frosts.
Picea ParryanaSarg.
Fig. 43
Leavesstrongly incurved, especially those on the upper side of the branches, stout, rigid, acuminate and tipped with long callous sharp points, 1′—1⅛′ long on sterile branches, often not more than half as long on the fertile branches of old trees, marked on each side by 4—7 rows of stomata, dull bluish green on some individuals and light or dark steel-blue or silvery white on others, the blue colors gradually changing to dull blue-green at the end of three or four years.Flowers: male yellow tinged with red; female with broad oblong or slightly obovate pale green scales truncate or slightly emarginate at the denticulate apex, and acute bracts.Fruitproduced on the upper third of the tree, sessile or short-stalked, oblong-cylindric,slightly narrowed at the ends, usually about 3′ long, green more or less tinged with red when fully grown at midsummer, becoming pale chestnut-brown and lustrous, with flat tough rhombic scales flexuose on the margins, and acute, rounded or truncate at the elongated erose apex;seeds⅛′ long or about half the length of their wings, gradually widening to above the middle and full and rounded at apex.
A tree, usually 80°—100° or occasionally 150° high, with a trunk rarely 3° in diameter and occasionally divided into 3 or 4 stout secondary stems, rigid horizontal branches disposed on young trees in remote whorls and decreasing regularly in length from below upward, the short stout stiff branchlets pointing forward and making flat-topped masses of foliage; branches on old trees short and remote, with stout lateral branches forming a thin ragged pyramidal crown; branchlets stout, rigid, glabrous, pale glaucous green, becoming bright orange-brown during the first winter and ultimately light grayish brown.Winter-budsstout, obtuse or rarely acute, ¼′—½′ long, with thin pale chestnut-brown scales usually reflexed on the margins.Barkof young trees gray or gray tinged with cinnamon-red and broken into small oblong plate-like scales, becoming on the lower part of old trunks ¾′—1½′ thick and deeply divided into broad rounded ridges covered with small closely appressed pale gray or occasionally bright cinnamon-red scales.Woodlight, soft, close-grained, weak, pale brown or often nearly white, with hardly distinguishable sapwood.
Distribution. Banks of streams or on the first benches above them singly or in small groves at elevations between 6500° and 11,000° above the sea; Colorado and eastern Utah northward to the northern end of the Medicine Bow Mountains and on the Laramie Range in southern and on the Shoshone and Teton Mountains in northwestern Wyoming, and southward into northern New Mexico (Sierra Bianca, alt. 8000°—11,000°, Sacramento Mountains, Pecos River National Forest).
Often planted as an ornamental tree in the eastern and northern states and in western and northern Europe, especially individuals with blue foliage; very beautiful in early life but in cultivation soon becoming unsightly from the loss of the lower branches.
Fig. 44
Leavesabruptly narrowed and obtuse at apex, straight or slightly incurved, rounded and obscurely ridged and dark green and lustrous on the lower surface, flattened and conspicuously marked on the upper surface by 4 or 5 rows of stomata on each side of the prominent midrib, ¾′—1⅛′ long,1/16′—1/10′ wide.Flowers: male dark purple; female oblong-cylindric, with obovate scales rounded above and reflexed on the entire margins, and oblong bracts laciniately divided at their rounded or acute apex.Fruitellipsoidal, gradually narrowed from the middle to the ends, acute at apex, rather oblique at base, suspended on straight slender stalks, deep rich purple or green more or less tinged with purple when fully grown, becoming light orange-brown, 2′—4′ long, with thin broadly ovate flat scales longer than broad, rounded at apex, opening late in the autumn after the escape of theseeds, often becoming strongly reflexed and very flexible; usually remaining on the branches until their second winter;seedsacute at base, full and rounded on the sides, ⅛′ long, dark brown, and about one quarter the length of their wings broadest toward the full and rounded apex.
A tree, usually 80°—100° high, with a trunk 2°—3° in diameter above the swelling of its enlarged and gradually tapering base, and furnished to the ground with crowded branches, those at the top of the tree short and slightly ascending, with comparatively short pendulous lateral branches, those lower on the tree horizontal or pendulous and clothed with slender flexible whip-like laterals often 7°—8° long and not more than ¼′ thick and furnished with numerous long thin lateral branchlets, their ultimate divisions slender, coated with fine pubescence persistent until their third season, bright red-brown during their first winter, gradually growing dark gray-brown.Winter-budsconic, light chestnut-brown, ¼′ long and ⅛′ thick.Bark½′—¾′ thick, broken into long thin closely appressed scales dull red-brown on the surface.Woodheavy, soft, close-grained, light brown or nearly white, with thick hardly distinguishable sapwood.
Distribution. Dry mountain ridges and peaks near the timber-line on both slopes of the Siskiyou Mountains on the boundary between California and Oregon, forming small groves at elevations of about 7000° above the sea; on a high peak west of Marble Mountain in Siskiyou County, California; on the coast ranges of southwestern Oregon at elevations of 4000°—5000°.
Fig. 45
Leavesstanding out from all sides of the branches and often nearly at right angles to them, frequently bringing their white upper surface to view by a twist at their base, straight or slightly incurved, acute or acuminate with long callous tips, slightly rounded, green, lustrous, and occasionally marked on the lower surface with 2 or 3 rows of small conspicuous stomata on each side of the prominent midrib, flattened, obscurely ridged and almost covered with broad silvery white bands of numerous rows of stomata on the upper surface, ½′—1⅛′ long and1/16′—1/12′ wide, mostly persistent 9—11 years.Flowers: male at the ends of the pendant lateral branchlets, dark red; female on rigid terminal shoots of the branches of the upper half of the tree, with nearly orbicular denticulate scales, often slightly truncate above and completely hidden by their elongated acuminate bracts.Fruitoblong-cylindric, short-stalked, yellow-green often tinged with dark red when fully grown, becoming lustrous and pale yellow or reddish brown, 2½′—4′ long, with thin stiff elliptic scales rounded toward the apex, denticulate above the middle, and nearly twice as long as their lanceolate denticulatebracts; deciduous mostly during their first autumn and winter;seedsfull and rounded, acute at the base, pale reddish brown, about ⅛′ long, with narrow oblong slightly oblique wings ⅓′—½′ in length.
A tree, usually about 100° high, with a conspicuously tapering trunk often 3°—4° in diameter above its strongly buttressed and much-enlarged base, occasionally 200° tall, with a trunk 15°—16° in diameter, horizontal branches forming an open loose pyramid and on older trees clothed with slender pendant lateral branches frequently 2°—3° long, and stout rigid glabrous branchlets pale green at first, becoming dark or light orange-brown during their first autumn and winter and finally dark gray-brown; at the extreme northwestern limits of its range occasionally reduced to a low shrub.Winter-budsovoid, acute or conical, ¼′—½′ long, with pale chestnut-brown acute scales, often tipped with short points and more or less reflexed above the middle.Bark¼′—½′ thick and broken on the surface into large thin loosely attached dark red-brown or on young trees sometimes bright cinnamon-red scales.Woodlight, soft, not strong, straight-grained, light brown tinged with red, with thick nearly white sapwood; largely manufactured into lumber used in the interior finish of buildings, for fencing, boat-building, aeroplanes, cooperage, wooden-ware, and packing-cases.
Distribution. Moist sandy, often swampy soil, or less frequently at the far north on wet rocky slopes, from the eastern end of Kadiak Island, southward through the coast region of Alaska, British Columbia, Washington, and Oregon to Mendocino County, California; in Washington, occasionally ranging inland to the upper valley of the Nesqually River.
Often planted in western and central Europe and occasionally in the middle Atlantic states as an ornamental tree.
Tall pyramidal trees, with deeply furrowed astringent bark bright cinnamon-red except on the surface, soft pale wood, nodding leading shoots, slender scattered horizontal often pendulous branches, the secondary branches three or four times irregularly pinnately ramified, with slender round glabrous or pubescent ultimate divisions, the whole forming graceful pendant masses of foliage, and minute winter-buds. Leaves flat or angular, obtuse and often emarginate or acute at apex, spirally disposed, usually appearing almost 2-ranked by the twisting of their petioles, those on the upper side of the branch then much shorter than the others, abruptly narrowed into short petioles jointed on ultimately woody persistent bases, with stomata on the lower surface; on one species not 2-ranked, and of nearly equal length, with stomata on both surfaces. Flowers solitary, the male in the axils of leaves of the previous year, globose, composed of numerous subglobose anthers, with connectives produced into short gland-like tips, the female terminal, erect, with nearly circular scales slightly longer or shorter than their membranaceous bracts. Fruitan ovoid-oblong, oval, or oblong-cylindric obtuse usually pendulous nearly sessile green or rarely purple cone becoming light or dark reddish brown, with concave suborbicular or ovate-oblong scales thin and entire on the margins, much longer than their minute bracts, persistent on the axis of the cone after the escape of the seeds. Seeds furnished with resin-vesicles, ovoid-oblong, compressed, nearly surrounded by their much longer obovate-oblong wings; outer seed-coat crustaceous, light brown, the inner membranaceous, pale chestnut-brown, and lustrous; cotyledons 3—6, much shorter than the inferior radicle.
Tsuga is confined to temperate North America, Japan, central and southwestern China, Formosa, and the Himalayas; nine species have been distinguished.
Tsugais the Japanese name of the Hemlock-tree.