=Inflorescence.=--April to May. Sterile flowers terminal or axillary, on wood of the preceding season; distinctly stalked; cylindrical, 1/2 an inch long; anthers pale red: fertile flowers at or near ends of season's shoots; scales pale red or green, spirally imbricated, broader than long; margin roundish, entire or nearly so; each scale bearing two ovules. =Fruit.=--Cones short-stalked, at or near ends of branchlets, light green while growing, pale brownish when mature, spreading, 1-2-1/2 inches long, when closed cylindrical, tapering towards the apex, cylindrical or ovate-cylindrical when open, mostly falling the first winter; scales broad, thin, smooth; margin rounded, sometimes straight-topped, usually entire. =Horticultural Value.=--A beautiful tree, requiring cold winters for its finest development, the best of our New England spruces for ornamental and forest plantations in the northern sections; grows rapidly in moist or well-drained soils, in open sun or shade, and in exposed situations. The foliage is sometimes infested by the red spider. Propagated from seed. [Illustration: PLATE VIII.--Picea alba.] 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. 8. Open cone. 9. Seed with ovuliferous scale. 10. Leaves. 11. Cross-sections of leaves. =Tsuga Canadensis, Carr.= HEMLOCK. =Habitat and Range.=--Cold soils, borders of swamps, deep woods, ravines, mountain slopes. Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, through Quebec and Ontario. Maine,--abundant, generally distributed in the southern and central portions, becoming rare northward, disappearing entirely in most of Aroostook county and the northern Penobscot region; New Hampshire,--abundant, from the sea to a height of 2000 feet in the White mountains, disappearing in upper Coos county; Vermont,--common, especially in the mountain forests; Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut,--common. South to Delaware and along the mountains to Georgia and Alabama, ascending to an altitude of 2000 feet in the Adirondacks; west to Michigan and Minnesota. =Habit.=--A large handsome tree, 50-80 feet high; trunk 2-4 feet in diameter, straight, tapering very slowly; branches going out at right angles, not disposed in whorls, slender, brittle yet elastic, the lowest declined or drooping; head spreading, somewhat irregular, widest at the base; spray airy, graceful, plume-like, set in horizontal planes; foliage dense, extremely delicate, dark lustrous green above and silver green below, tipped in spring with light yellow green. =Bark.=--Bark of trunk reddish-brown, interior often cinnamon red, shallow-furrowed in old trees; young trunks and branches of large trees gray brown, smooth; season's shoots very slender, buff or light reddish-brown, minutely pubescent.