South along the Alleghanies to Georgia, ascending to an altitude of 4500 feet in the Adirondacks, and 4000-5000 feet in West Virginia; west through the northern tier of states to Minnesota. =Habit.=--A hardy tree, 40-75 feet high; trunk 1-2-1/2 feet in diameter, straight, tapering very slowly; branches longer than those of the black spruce, irregularly whorled or scattered, the lower often declined, sometimes resting on the ground, the upper rising toward the light, forming while the tree is young a rather regular, narrow, conical head, which in old age and in bleak mountain regions becomes, by the loss of branches, less symmetrical but more picturesque; foliage dark yellowish-green. =Bark.=--Bark of trunk smoothish and mottled on young trees, at length separating into small, thin, flat, reddish scales; in old trees striate with shallow sinuses, separating into ashen-white plates, often partially detached; spray reddish or yellowish white in autumn with minute, erect, pale rusty pubescence. =Winter Buds and Leaves.=--Buds scaly, conical, brownish, 1/3 inch long. Leaves solitary, at first closely appressed around the young shoots, ultimately pointing outward, those on the underside often twisting upward, giving a brush-like appearance to the twig, 1/2-3/4 inch long, straight or curved (curvature more marked than in _P. nigra_), needle-shaped, dark yellowish-green, 4-angled; apex blunt or more or less pointed, often mucronate; base blunt; sessile on persistent leaf-cushions. =Inflorescence.=--May. Sterile flowers terminal or axillary on wood of the preceding year, 1/2-3/4 inch long, cylindrical; anthers pinkish-red: fertile flowers lateral along previous season's shoots, erect; scales madder-purple, spirally imbricated, broader than long, margin entire or slightly erose. =Fruit.=--Cones; single or clustered, lateral along the previous season's shoots, recurved, mostly pointing downward at various angles, on short stalks, falling the first autumn but sometimes persistent a year longer, 1-2 inches long (usually 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._