62 WOODY PLANTS OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



side. In trees of not over 25 or 30 feet, the roots do not penetrate 

 more than 15 or 18 inches. They are covered with a reddish 

 or greyish, sulphur-colored bark, broken on the surface into 

 irregular rectangular scales. The wand-like rootlets, which 

 are few in number, are very pliant and tough. The roots in 

 old trees swell and project above the surface, forming natural 

 buttresses on every side, for the support of the trunk. The bark 

 on trees less than fifteen inches in diameter is very smooth, of a 

 reddish bottle-green, covered, in summer, with an ashy or 

 pearly gloss. On old trunks, it is less rough than that of any 

 other pine. It is cleft by superficial vertical clefts into long 

 plates two or three inches wide, which become more rough on 

 the older trees, but do not scale off. The branches are in whorls 

 or regular stages of about five at each stage, tending slightly 

 upwards when young, but in old trees horizontal. In the for- 

 ests all but the upper branches decay and disappear, and these, 

 stretching out over the tops of the other trees, are conspicuous, 

 and help to distinguish the white pines as far as they can be 

 seen. The smaller branches are marked with spiral lines of the 

 cicatrices of the fallen leaves. A single large bud, encircled by 

 about five smaller ones, terminates each branch. The leaves 

 are in fives, of a soft bluish green, slender, and from three to 

 five inches long, arranged spirally in long tufts at the ends of 

 all the branches, and giving great beauty to the young trees. 



On the extremity of the newly opened buds, on the ends of 

 the uppermost branches, are found the fertile flowers in erect 

 cones, which, in June, at the time of the maturity of the stami- 

 nate cone, are 3-10ths of an inch long, and half as broad, on 

 scaly footstalks, 7-10ths of an inch long. These cones are 

 made up of small, broad, fleshy scales, imbricately arranged in 

 spirals. Outside the base of each is a thin, membranous, ragged 

 scale, and within, near the base, two oblique openings, marked 

 by a slight projection. These lead to cavities containing the 

 ovule or future seed. There are neither styles nor stigmas, 

 and the naked ovule is supposed to be fecundated by the 

 fertilizing pollen coming directly in contact with it. At the 

 end of one season, the cones are two or three inches long, of a 

 fresh green, reflexed, on stout footstalks. In the succeeding 



