268 ON THE PINUS PINASTER OF CLUSTER PINE. 



most pines, they are also more of the " tap-root " type, and of 

 a deep descending habit, Avhich is well suited to give the tree a 

 firm hold of the understrata in so shifting and light a soil as 

 sand. From the same peculiarity of tap-rooted formations — 

 like so many digital, bulky underground branches, — the tree 

 is less adapted for rapidly penetrating heavy or stiff clay soil, 

 or where the subsoil is rock ; and in such situations, from 

 the young trees being swayed by winds before their roots have 

 got a sufficiently deep hold of the ground, the plants get 

 generally " vnnded " as it is termed, i.e., inclined to one side, 

 according to the prevailing direction of the wind from one 

 quarter or another. In rich soil, with a close clay subsoil, the 

 roots of the Finns Pinaster are apt to become succulent, which 

 leads to the production of a very inferior quality of timber — a 

 state of matters which the F. Pinaster can very well afford to 

 dispense with, for even at the best, and under the most favoured 

 circumstances, its timber cannot be said to be of good quality, 

 but coarse, and brittle, and is not of long duration for economic 

 or constructive purposes. 



In a suitable soil, the growth of the Pinaster is rapid, attaining 

 in the course of fifty years to about sixty feet in height, with a 

 bole of corresponding proportion in thickness ; but, to do it 

 justice, the Pinaster requires a free open space around it ; — hence 

 it is less suited for planting in mixed plantations, excepting on 

 the very margins, and even there its love of air and freedom 

 will show itself, by an undue growth towards the exposed side, 

 while the other, next the plantation, will in a few years become 

 perfectly bare, alike leafless and branchless. In open spaces, 

 *as a tree of position, when grown in suitable soil, the P. 

 Pinaster becomes very soon an ornamental tree of great beauty, 

 and of a fine bold appearance, its light green foliage, thickly 

 clustered towards the tips of the branches, being the more con- 

 spicuous by the bare stems of the younger wood, — a habit 

 peculiar to this pine, which is rendered the more striking when 

 the tree is covered with cones. These are placed in whorls round 

 the stem of the branches, pointing outwards in a star-like group 

 or cluster, whence the name of the species is derived — 

 " Pinaster " or star pine. The cones are not matured till the 

 autumn of the second year, and from at first being of a beautiful 

 purplish green tint, gradually changing to a deep green, they 

 assume when ripe a dark rich glossy brown hue, which, when 

 lighted up by the rays of the autumnal setting sun, is very 

 pleasing, picturesque, and highly ornamental. 



The unsuitability of the Finns Pinaster for successfully 

 grouping with other trees in mixed plantations has, to a great 

 extent, prevented its general introduction to anything like the 

 popularity wliich many others of the same family have acquired 



