their lists. Most of the other recorders (Cartier 1534, Denys 1672, Gotteville 1720 and Duchambon 1738) make no effort to discriminate between the species of conifer, and so it is possible that it could have been included under any of the names sapin, épinettie46 or even pin.47 A third remote possibility is that it was listed as cédre (i.e. cedar) though an extensive examination of the historical use of the word cédre eliminates this possibility.48

Conclusion For whatever reason, tamarack appears to have never been distinguished by the

‘5 Only Gotteville (1720) and Duchambon (1738), as we have seen, have épinette in their lists. However, since they do not list any of the other names for the spruces and firs, it is more likely that they are referring to those species rather than to tamarack, or it may be that they are using the term to include all short—needled conifers. Also relevant here, although not included in the lists of Tables 1-2 and 1-3, is the mention of épineffe rouge by Beauharnois (1726: 6 April), the intendant at Rochefort, and Maurepas (1726: 16 April), the minister of Marine at Versailles. As noted earlier (see footnote 17), in asking for a sample of mast trees to be sent from lle Saint-Jean to France, they specifically requested sections of ‘epinettes rouges et blanches' (as well as of pin). But does epinette rouge specifically refer to tamaraclfl — it depends on whether tamarack could have been used for masts. If not, it is more likely to mean the spruces, perhaps red and white. And even if the name was brought up in the correspondence by Beauharnois (who had spent three years in Québec), and even if he was referring to tamarack, this does not mean that he had any direct knowledge of its presence on He Saint-Jean.

‘7 The only reason I suggest pin is that Rousseau (1937) (pp. 67- 68) states that Jacques Cartier probably used the word pin for all conifers with leaves grouped in tufts or whorls, i.e. the pines and tamarack. Even if this may have been true for Cartier (and this is uncertain), I consider it unlikely to be so for other recorders, simply because the pines (certainly the white and red) are very different in appearance from tamarack, and have also tended to be singled out because of their economic importance for ship timber.

‘5 The idea that tamarack might have been listed as cédre arose

from the fact that in the most comprehensive of the lists, that of Roma (1750), tamarack appears to have been omitted, whereas cedar is included — even though cedar occurs only in the western part of Prince Edward Island, far from Roma’s centre of activity at Brudenell Point, and is unlikely to have ever occurred in the east of the island, whereas tamarack must have been common in much of Roma's area. (However, we cannot rule out the possibility that Roma had visited the western part of the island, or else received reports from others of the presence of cedar there - though this still does not account for his omission of tamarack.) I then noted that Massignon (1962) (p. 166) cites Charlevoix (1744) (IV, 371) as naming Lan’x canadensis (i.e. tamarack) as the ‘méleze ou cédre du Canada'. Charlevoix was a Jesuit who wrote an account of New France in which he describes in detail all of the trees. However, Charlevoix's use of ‘cédre' for tamarack appears to be a lone example, while Massignon (1962) cites ample evidence in support of larch carrying the names discussed above (especially épinette rouge). That the cédre of Jacques Cartier cannot be larch is indicated by the fact that, as he records in his journal (cited by Hosie 1969), the Indians recommended that he boil cédre leaves to help cure the scurvy of his men — this could not have been larch, which loses its leaves in winter.

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French recorders even though it must have been present on the island.

CEDAR (Thuja occidentalis) [French name : cédre]

Identification — Since cedar is the only conifer occurring on Prince Edward Island that has scale- like rather than needle-like leaves, it should have been easily distinguished from all other trees. However, assuming its distribution before European colonisation to have been similar to that of the present, it would have been found only in the west of the island in the area of Malpeque and Bedeque Bays and westward. The genus Thu/a does not occur in Europe, though other genera of the same family (Cupressaceae, the cypress family) are f0und in southern France, such as species of Juniperus, some of which have scale- like leaves similar to Thu/a.49

Nomenclature — The earliest application of the name cédre to a North American species seems to have been that of Jacques Cartier (1534) on his brief stop on Prince Edward |sland.'5'O It seems that he used this name due to the similarity of the trees that he saw to some of the European juniper species, a name in French for which, traceable to the ancient Greek name for junipers (kedros), is cédre.51 it is actually a mis-nomer botanically — the true cedars (Cedrus species“) are very

‘9 Jalas & Suominen 1973, Le. Juniperus phoenicea and J.

thun’fera .

5° Massignon 1962, p. 165. 5‘ Rousseau (1937) (p. 48) cites the use by French botanists contemporary with Cartier of the name cédre for scale-leaved juniper species (Juniperus phoenicea and J. thun'fera), as well as for a needle-leaved juniper (J. oxycedrus). However, only one of the French dictionaries that l consulted listed cédre as carrying the meaning of juniper species — the others listed only Cedrus species. The exception was Le Robert (1971) which cites the statement: “le genevn'er est appel/é cédre piquanf' [the juniper is called the prickly cedar]. This could refer to either of two somewhat spiny- leaved species: Juniperus oxycedrus, found in the south of France, or Juniperus communis, distributed more widely in France (Jalas & Suominen 1973) - and incidentally also found on Prince Edward Island (it is one of the few tree or shrub species common to both the Old World and the New). I suspect that the word cédre was (and is) more commonly used in the vernacular in France for all of the junipers than one might realise from the more literature- orientated dictionaries.

52 The best known example of which is Cedrus libani, the cedar of Lebanon.