BLACK SPRUCE (Picea Mariana, B. S. & P.). 20 to .%.) feet; rarely to 100 feet. Pyramidal evergreen, with drooping branches that curve upward. Bark brownish gray, thin, scaly. Twigs downy, wood yellow, soft, weak, used for wood pulp and fuel. Leaves blue-green, 4-sided, stiff, sharp, curved, with pale bloom above, t to of an inch long; single in close, spiral around twig. Flowers staminate in globular
ccne-like spikes, lateral, solitary; pistillate oblong, cone-like, with broad, notched, purple scales. Fruits brown, thin-scaled, persistent, solitary, pendant cones, s to 11 inches long; seeds winged. Dist.: Northern Canada to Alaska; south to Vir ginia, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. Sap yields spruce gum and spruce beer.