Austrian pine. The position of the cones on the red pine, which
point outward and downward at maturity, will also help to
distinguish this tree from the Scotch and the Austrian varieties.



GROUP II. THE SPRUCE AND HEMLOCK

How to tell them from other trees: The spruce and hemlock belong to the
evergreen class and may be told from the other trees by their
_leaves_. The characteristic leaves of the spruce are shown in Fig.
9; those of the hemlock in Fig. 10. These are much shorter than the
needles of the pines but are longer than the leaves of the red cedar
or arbor vitae. They are neither arranged in clusters like those of
the larch, nor in feathery layers like those of the cypress. They
adhere to the tree throughout the year, while the leaves of the
larch and cypress shed in the fall.

The spruces are pyramidal-shaped trees, with tall and tapering
trunks, thickly covered with branches, forming a compact crown. They
are widely distributed throughout the cold and temperate regions of
the northern hemisphere, where they often form thick forests over
extended areas.

There are eighteen recognized species of spruce. The Norway spruce
has been chosen as a type for this group because it is so commonly
planted in the northeastern part of the United States.

The hemlock is represented by seven species, confined to temperate
North America, Japan, and Central and Western China.