SCHOPF AMERICAN TRAVELS. 



the two inner sides are flat, so that the 3 needles fit exactly together 

 and form a long, thin cylinder ; they are, for the rest, straight or 

 only a little twist, the same breadth throughout, and but a little pointed 

 at the end. The young trees grow no side-branches until they are 4-5 

 years old and 5-6 feet high, retaining until then their long, beautiful, 

 upstanding tuft. The cones of this variety are 6-8 inches long and 

 glisten with the plentiful resin they sweat out. Each scale has a rather 

 wide eye, with a small, sharp point in the middle. The trunks grow tall 

 and strong and their bark is smooth. 



2. The Loblolly-pine.* It has likewise 3 needles in each sheath, 

 and similar to those of the first, except that each needle is somewhat 

 twisted. In young saplings the length of the needles is not more than 

 5-8 inches; in mature trees, not more than 4-6; but they are not, as 

 with the pitch-pine, found only at the ends of the twigs, clothing them 

 as a rule entirely. Also the branches stand up more and are shorter, 

 whereas with the foregoing variety the half-naked boughs spread more 

 out, and hang somewhat. Their cones are like the former, but shorter. 

 The bark of the trunk is rough. 







3. The Bird's-nest pine. This name has been given it because all 

 along the trunk a number of small, round, bushy sprouts break through 

 the bark, and give the tree a strange, and at the first glance, distinguish- 

 ing appearance. It is further peculiar for growing a great number 

 of small twigs on the south side, and none or very few on the north 

 side. There are two needles in each sheath, not more than 2-4 inches 

 long, half-cylindrical, pointed, and slightly dented along the edges. 

 The cones are oval, seldom more than 2 inches long, and each scale 

 set with a small spine. The bark is very rough and broken. 



4. The Smooth-barked pine. It has 2 needles in each sheath, from 

 3-5 inches long, of a structure like the preceding. Their cones are also 

 very small, and commonly quite smooth, but are to be distinguished 

 by the very pleasant odor which is peculiar to them. The bark of the 

 lower trunk is somewhat rough, but higher up grows smooth and white, 

 retaining this characteristic and color, by which the tree may be known, 

 throughout all the limbs, an appearance so unusual, especially in the 

 younger trees and branches, that judging by it alone one would hardly 

 suppose this to be a variety of pine. 



These are the varieties of pine observed by me near about Charles- 

 ton, to be easily and plainly recognized in loco by the descriptions 

 given. But a special treatise would be necessary clearly and certainly 

 to disintricate the sundry species and varieties of North American 

 pines and firs, they, as it seems, being much affected by climatic and 

 local conditions, and great confusion arising from the arbitrary, in- 

 determinate names given them. Properly to rectify such confusions 

 would require time and an observation of the trees in all situations 

 and circumstances. 



Pinus Taeda. Linn. v. Wangenheim, Beytr., 41. 



25 



