150 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



Monterey Pine — {Phms insignis — Doug.) 



This close cliiig-cone pine forms a remarkably beautiful tree, of conic 

 form, in open and free growth, and feathered with dense, vivid, grass 

 green foliage to the ground; but in forests it rises to one hundred feet, 

 with fine columnar trunks, one to three feet in diameter, topped by a 

 few irregular, much spreading branches. 



Professor 11. JST. Bolander — recently from a tour of observation — says, 

 (in his article on California Trees, laid before the California Academy of 

 ^Natural Sciences, December fourth, eighteen hundred and sixty-five, 

 from which we quote.) " Pinus wsir/nis covers many thousand acres in the 

 vicinit}^ of Monterey and Carmel, forming quite a forest along the coast 

 between these two places, sixty to one hundred feet high, one to three feet 

 in diameter, shape very irregular, often only a few rigid, much spreading 

 branches; foliage dense, and of a vivid green color; cones persistent, ten 

 to nineteen whorls; bark very thick and vimose The wood is extremely 

 resinous, and excellent for street planks, bridges, floors, etc. Considering 

 that there is besides this species only P. mnricata growing in that 

 vicinity — which could not be confounded with it — it is certainly most 

 singular to see so many sj-nonyms for it — e. g. — P. radiata, P. ISinrlarli, 

 and P. tuherculata — if this last should not prove to be distinct. Besides, 

 the trees and cones are of great uniformity." 



Unwilling to grow a few hundred feet above the sea, these signal pines 

 seem designed for the ocean shore, self protected to their very feet by 

 their own strong arms ! Sei^ne in self conscious strength, with wood 

 of almost iron toughness, they brave the warring elements, saj'ing to the 

 raging winds, the roaring waves, and the restive sands — "peace, be still." 

 And what a refreshing contrast do they present to the feeble eye, that 

 might else fail did it not gaze heavenward from the ceaseless glare of 

 barren sand, and soils whose vegetation lies dead, parched up, during 

 our long and dry summer season. Long, long may the forest remnants 

 of these grand old ensigns be lifted up on our coast hills to guard us 

 from the devastating desert. Does any one wonder that trees of so 

 much beauty and use should be general favorites, as this and the follow- 

 ing pine are, to the citizens of San Francisco ? The doomed cit}', 

 where the desert comes drifting; dailv down from suberb to centre, and 

 no one to stay the hand of the spoiler I "What are j'ou doing there?" 

 said we to some bushwhackers, in the Lone Mountain vicinity, the other 

 day. The self satisfied reply was : " Making improvements ! " — with a 

 vengeance, we added, and turned away heart-sickened. 



Who blames the skilful and beneficent nurserA'man, from some strange 

 shore, should he sell yon some miserable foreign abortion to cumber 

 the ground, when you have neither the taste nor judgment to appre- 

 ciate the native tree he offers? 



Perhaps more specific details are desirable, but we fondly hope to 

 recur to it again, with proper illustrations. Suftice it to say, the leaves are 

 in threes; the boot, or sheath, short and smooth, one quarter of an inch 

 long; cones like a Farralone egg, onlj' one sided, or largest on the outer 

 exposed side at the base; the point is turned downwai'ds; mostlj' in 

 clusters of three to five ; whorled round the stem ; light cinnamon color, 

 and varnished; a short prickle in the centre navel of the scale; seeds 

 black, with awing about an inch long. It takes two yeai'S to ripen. 

 Found chiefly at Point Pinos, Monterc}^. 



