184 TKANS. ST. LOUIS ACAD. SCIKNCE. 



have been collected at Tomales Point with subterminal cones, not differ- 

 ent in anj other respect. The cones of the southern specimens (from 

 Monterey, etc.) have usually very long, )^ inch, and stout curved spurs, 

 especially on the outer side, and fully deserve their specific name, but oth- 

 ers from farther north (Mendocino, etc.) are more regular, with short and 

 thin, though very sharp, prickles. 



37. P. Pinaster, Ait. The male flowers form a large oval head ; invo- 

 lucral bracts often only 3 or sometimes 4, all of equal length. Geographi- 

 cally and structurally this species is more nearly allied with F. Ca7iari- 

 ensis, less so with Laricio, but is distinguished from both by the lateral 

 (quite rarely subterminal) female ament. 



38. P. mitis, Michx. Wide-spread through the middle and partly the 

 southern States, rare in New Jersey and not now found farther north; 

 westward to Arkansas and to Missouri south of the Missouri river, where it 

 is the only species of pine ; it is found always on silicious soil ; it fur- 

 nishes excellent "hard pine" lumber. The outer pair of the 9-12 involucral 

 bracts is scarcely half as long as the inner ones. 



39. P. glabra, Walt. Similar to the last, with slender foliage, smoother 

 bark (in young trees and on the branches the grayish bark is quite smooth) 

 and almost unarmed cones, distinguished by Walter 100 years ago, but 

 long overlooked, until W. H. Ravenel, about 25 years since, rediscovered 

 it. Dr. Mellichamp finds it scattered on the coast of South Carolina, 

 where it grows on the edge of or in swamps, and on the knolls in them, 

 with Magnolia, Fagus, and Nyssa; rarely on sandy soil, and never in the 

 so called Pine-barrens. He describes the branching of the tree as singu- 

 larly characteristic, the spray usually being flattened somewhat like that 

 of Cedrus. It probably extends through the lower parts of the southeastern 

 and southern States, as it is again found in Mississippi (E. Hilgard). The 

 tree (known in South Carolina as the Spruce-Pine) grows up to So feet in 

 height; the gray bark of such old trees is flakey and is compared by some 

 to that of the sugar-maple, by others to a smoothish white-oak bark. The 

 leaves are usually 2k to 3 inches long, not half as thick as they are wide, 

 while in P. mitis their thickness exceeds half their width; the external in- 

 volucral bracts are minute. 



40. P. Banksiana, Lamb., published 1S03 in Lambert's first edition, a 

 year prior to Poiret's name of P. rufestris, which name, erroneously pre- 

 ferred by Parlatore, must give way to the former. Probably the only pine 

 with erect or at least patulous cones; the small prickles of the very young 

 cones soon disappear, so that the mature ones are unarmed. The base 

 of the wing entirely covers the outer side of the seed and separates from 

 it, just as it does in Picea, and which I have not seen in any other pine 

 to this extent. The cones are often serotinous and persist for a long time. 

 The seeds seem to germinate most readily, just like those oi P. Tcsda, and 

 in moist sandy soil, in old fields and along railroads young trees spring up 

 abundantly. It makes a moderate sized tree, but is perhaps never over 

 20 or 30 feet high, and 10-12 or very rarely iS inches in diameter. Very 



