larger than those of _P. nigra_),
reddish-brown, mostly ovate; scales thin, stiff, rounded; margin entire
or slightly irregular.

=Horticultural Value.=--Hardy throughout New England; adapts itself to a
great variety of soils and lives to a great age. Its narrow-based
conical form, dense foliage, and yellow green coloring form an effective
contrast with most other evergreens. It grows, however, slowly, is
subject to the loss of its lower branches and to disfigurement by
insects. Seldom offered in nurseries.

[Illustration: PLATE VII.--Picea rubra.]

1. Branch with sterile flowers.
2. Stamen, front view.
3. Stamen, side view.
4. Branch with fertile flowers.
5. Cover-scale and ovuliferous scale, outer side.
6. Ovuliferous scale with ovules, inner side.
7. Fruiting branch with cones of two seasons.
8. Seed.
9. Leaf.
10. Cross-sections of leaves.

=Picea alba, Link.=

_Picea Canadensis, B. S. P._

WHITE SPRUCE. CAT SPRUCE.[1] SKUNK SPRUCE.[2] LABRADOR SPRUCE.

=Habitat and Range.=--Low, damp, but not wet woods; dry, sandy soils,
high rocky slopes and exposed hilltops, often in scanty soil.

[Footnote 1, 2: So called from the peculiarly unpleasant odor of the
crushed foliage and young shoots,--a characteristic which readily
distinguishes it from the _P. nigra_ and _P. rubra_.]

Newfoundland and Nova Scotia, through the provinces of Quebec and
Ontario to Manitoba and British Columbia, northward beyond all
other trees, within 20 miles of the Arctic sea.

Maine,--frequent in sandy soils, often more common than _P. rubra_, as
far south as the shores of Casco bay; New Hampshire,--abundant around
the shores of the Connecticut river, disappearing southward at
Fifteen-Mile falls; Vermont,--restricted mainly to the northern
sections, more common in the northeast; Massachusetts,--occasional in
the mountainous regions of Berkshire county; a few trees in Hancock (A.
K. Harrington); as far south as Amherst (J. E. Humphrey) and Northampton
(Mrs. Emily H. Terry), probably about the southern limit of the species;
Rhode Island and Connecticut,--not reported.

West through the northern sections of the northern tier of states
to the Rocky mountains.

=Habit.=--A handsome tree, 40-75 feet high, with a diameter of 1-2 feet
at the ground, the trunk tapering slowly, throwing out numerous
scattered or irregularly whorled, gently ascending or nearly horizontal
branches, forming a sym