2i. PINUS NIGRA.
BLACK SPRUCE FIR.
P in u s n ig r a , foliis soHtariis tetragonis rectis strictis, strobilis ovatis; squamis ellipticis margine u n d u -
latis erosis.
P. nigra, foliis solitariis tetragonis undique sparsis rectis strictis, conis oblongis. Ait. Kew. v. 3. 3/0.
Willden. Bert. Baum. 220.
P. mariana, ramulis pubescentibus, phyllophoris elevatis, patentibus; foliis solitariis, sessilibus, subse-
cundis, tetragonis, lineis quatnor longitndinalibns pnnctatis; strobilis ovatis pendulis; squamis
obovatis, crassis, lignosis, rigidis, apice crenulatis, subundulatis. Ehrh. Beitr. v. 3. 23.
P. nigra. Du Roi. Harbk. ed. Pott. v. 2. 182.
Abies mariana, foliis linearibus acutis, conis minimis. Wangenli. Beyt. J5.
Habitat in America Septentrional i.
Floret Maio.
D E SC R IP T IO .
Arbor mediocris, erecta, cortice nigricante. Folia recta. Amenta mascula pedunculata, erecta; antherce
angustatae, crista rotundatä, ciliato-dentatä, antheris duplo latiore: fceminea ovata, erecta, bracteolis
exiguis, rotundatis. Strobili penduli, ovati, unciales, purpureo-nigricantes, laeves, squamis subel-
lipticis, apice dentato-erosis.
P. nigra grows wild only in New England, Canada, Nova Scotia, and the colder climates northward.
It generally occupies a cold, moist, sandy soil. Its height in such places is from thirty to forty
feet, and its diameter from one to two at about the middle of the trunk, which is uneven, and the
branches reach to the ground. The bark, both of the trunk and the branches, is blackish, but the wood
has a reddish white colour; the latter is light, and full of large veins. In cases of necessity, it is used
by the Americans for building fishing-boats, and small vessels. The top of the tree is impregnated
with fine resinous particles. It is at its greatest strength in the spring, when an extract is made from
the leaves and young shoots, as well as from those of P. alba, with which Spruce beer is brewed.
Some persons are of opinion that the extract made from the former species, is better than that made
from the latter. The leaves are little more than half an inch in length, slender, tetragonal, and of a dark
green colour. The cones assume an oval shape, but they are small. The scales of these are of a
coriaceous texture, and large in proportion to the dimensions of the cone. In Canada and Nova Scotia
the seed ripens about the end of November, but is not shed before the following spring. This tree is
not so much cultivated in this country as it deserves.