ENGELMAXN PINUS ARISTATA, ETC. 213 



much tannin ; wood soft, white, not knotty nor resinous, 

 therefore much esteemed for Inside and cabinet work; annual 

 rings £-li lines, on an average f-1 line, wide. Leaves stouter 

 than they usually are in P. alba or nigra, hut less so than in 

 P. Men&iesii; in the higher localities 6-9 lines long and not 

 quite 1 line wide ; strongly carinate below, less so above, with 

 a few lines of white stomata above and below, abruptly but 

 not sharply acute ; in lower localities the leaves are more 

 slender and 8-12 1. long, and, if I am correct in referring here 

 some doubtful forms, it occurs also with whiter, more slender 

 and longer leaves, (10-15 1. ; Pendler, No. 833, from a young 

 tree without cones, mountain valley above Santa Fe,) ami 

 with almost glabrous branches and still more slender and 

 very acute leaves (5-10 1.; Dr. Hayden, from the Big Horn 

 Mountains ; detached cones from that locality certainly be- 

 long here). I find the leaves in this genus extremely varia- 

 ble; P. nigra at least, of which I have been able to compare 

 a large number of specimens, varies so much, that any at- 

 tempt to base specific characters on the form of the leaves 

 seems nugatory; the leaves in that species are straight, or 

 curved, slender or stout, quadrangular or compressed, — acute, 

 subacute or very obtuse, — whitish, pale or dark green, — usu- 

 ally only 4-6, but also 10-15 lines long; the fruit, however, 

 differs in its position from that of all other Picete known to 

 me, being borne on short, recurved, scaly peduncles ; it is 

 10-20 lines long, oval, acutish ; scales thick at base, very thin 

 at the crenulate edges. P. alba is also best characterized by 

 the slender cylindric cones, 1-3 inches long, with thin scales, 

 entire but not thickened, as I inadvertently stated in Sill. 

 Jour. 1. c. The true characters and the limits of variation 

 of these species are now being investigated by Prof. O. Bru- 

 net of Quebec, who, living in the midst of them, will be 

 able to solve many doubts heretofore existing ami to give 

 us their correct history. — Male aments of P. Engelmanni 

 6-9 1 long, on short stipes ; anthers 1 § 1. long ; female aments 

 9-10 1. long, with ovate lanceolate scales almost equalling in 

 length the dark purple, fleshy scales. Cones scattered on the 

 tree, never very abundant, l\-1$. (usually less than 2) inches 

 long, | inch or less in diameter when closed; light yellowish- 

 brown with the lower part of the scales dark when' fresh, all 

 reddish-brown when old; scales G 1. wide and G-S 1. long in 

 well grown specimens, rhombic with truncated end ; in poorer 

 ones, such as grow in lower elevations, shorter, more rounded, 

 with the truncation indistinct. I observe the same difference 

 in cones of P.excelsa, grown on bushy trees near their upper 

 limit in Switzerland ; there also cones, scales and seeds are 

 smaller, and the truncation of the scales is almost impercepti- 

 ble. Seeds about 1 1. long without and 4' ; 1. long with the 

 wing, which here, as in all Picese, overlaps the inner edge of 



