The Fir and the spruce are readily distinguished from the pine by their
botanical characters and by those general marks which are apparent to
common observers. They have shorter leaves than the pine, not arranged
in fascicles, but singly and in rows along the branch. The cones of the
American species are smaller than those of the pine, and they ripen
their seeds every year; their lateral branches are smaller and more
numerous, and are given out more horizontally. They are taller in
proportion to their spread, and more regularly pyramidal in their
outlines. The principal generic distinction between the Fir and the
spruce is the manner in which they bear their cones; those of the Fir
stand erect upon their branch, while those of the spruce are suspended
from it. Botanists have lately separated the spruce from the Fir, which
they describe under the generic name of Picea. As my descriptions of
trees are physiognomical rather than botanical, I shall have no occasion
to adopt or to reject this innovation. The spruces, however, are always
described by travellers as firs. Whenever they speak of Fir woods, they
include in them both the Fir and the spruce.