Part 21

=Abies fraseri=, (Pursh) Poir.

=Form=.—Height 30-70 feet, diameter 1-2½ feet; trunk continuous, tapering; crown pyramidal; rigid horizontal or ascending branches.

=Leaves=.—Linear, arranged around the stem, ½-¾ of an inch long, dark silvery green.

=Flowers=.—Monoecious; staminate yellow with red tinge; pistillate with rounded scales and pale yellow-green bracts.

=Fruit=.—Cones oblong-ovate, about 2½ inches long; width of scales twice their length, dark purple; bracts reflexed covering at maturity about half the scale.

=Bark=.—Roughened by cinnamon or gray scales.

=Wood=.—Light, soft, not strong, coarse-grained, pale brown with whitish sapwood.

=Range=.—From Virginia and West Virginia south to North Carolina and Tennessee.

=Distribution in West Virginia=.—Growing near Cheat Bridge, Randolph County; on the head of the Greenbrier River, Pocahontas County; and near the head of Blackwater fork of Cheat River in Tucker County.

=Habitat=.—Grows at high elevations and seems to prefer swampy soil in West Virginia.

=Notes=.—This species, which reaches the northern limit of its restricted range in Tucker County, is not commercially important. The trunks are occasionally sawed into lumber, and the tree has been widely transplanted on lawns.

ARBOR VITAE

=Thuja occidentalis=, L.

=Form=.—Height 40-50 feet, diameter 1-2 feet; trunk often divided; crown compact, pyramidal.

=Leaves=.—In 4 ranks on the stems, scale-like, ⅛-¼ inch long, longest and long-pointed on leading shoots, yellow-green, aromatic.

=Flowers=.—April-May; monoecious; staminate round, small, yellow; pistillate larger, oblong, reddish.

=Fruit=.—Cones maturing in early Autumn, oblong, about ½ inch long, reddish-brown, and persisting through the following winter.

=Bark=.—On trunk reddish-brown, slightly furrowed, and separating in ragged and twisted strips.

=Wood=.—Light, soft, brittle, durable, fragrant, yellowish-brown; sapwood whitish and thin.

=Range=.—Labrador, Manitoba and Minnesota, southward along the mountains to North Carolina.

=Distribution in West Virginia=.—Small trees on the South Branch of the Potomac River and on the North Fork of the South Branch in Pendleton County. Reported from Grant and Mineral counties.

=Habitat=.—River banks, swamps, rocky hillsides.

=Notes=.—This tree, often called white cedar, is so rare in West Virginia, and of so small a size that it has but little value, except from the standpoint of the botanist. It is commonly planted throughout the State for hedges and other ornamental purposes.

RED CEDAR

=Juniperus virginiana=, L.

=Form=.—Height 30-40 feet, diameter 1-2 feet; crown pyramidal or rounded, often irregular, dense.

=Leaves=.—Opposite, of two kinds: (1) scale-like overlapping one-sixteenth inch long, (2) awl-shaped, ¼-½ inch long, less common than the other form.

=Flowers=.—April-May; dioecious, or occasionally monoecious; in small lateral catkins.