1883.1 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



339- 



The White Spruce.— "W. D. K.," Abingdon 

 Va., writes : " I send you by mail to-day a box 

 containing cones and branches of an evergreen I 

 find growing on the top of White Top Mountain, 

 5700 feet above sea-level; also a balsam-nut, 

 300 or 400 feet higher. I send it to know what it 

 is ; it is known here by the name of Lashorn, 

 rather Lash-horn. The whole southern and south- 

 western face of the mountain has no timber, except 

 here and there clumps of dwarfed birch and beech- 

 grass growing. This evergreen Lash-horn grows 

 upon the summit — some splendid trees growing 



out where not crowded. I cut the branches I send 

 from some seedling I brought out nine to twelve 

 inches high ; the cones I gathered from an old tree. 

 I think they are last year cones. I had supposed 

 heretofore it was the American white spruce, but 

 do not know." 



[ Our correspondent's determination is correct. 

 It is the true white spruce — Abies alba. The 

 Editor has found it as far south as Roan Mountain, 

 in North Carolina, where it is in comparative abund- 

 ance and makes a good timber tree. It does not 

 do so well at low elevations. — Ed. G. M.] 



Natural History and Scimce. 



COMMUNICATIONS. 



PI.MUS KORAIENSIS Sieb. & Zucc. 

 BY JOSIAH HOOPES. 



Through the kindness of Chief Engineer G. W. 

 Melville, L". S. N., I have enjoyed an opportunity 

 of studying some excellent specimens of this in- 

 teresting species of pine, collected by him during 

 the late voyage of the unfortunate " Jeannette " to 

 the Arctic regions. These specimens consist of a 

 branch clothed with foliage, two immature cones, 

 and a few mature seeds, and were collected in the 

 District of Tuknansk, in Eastern Siberia. It was 

 seen along the banks of the Lena, Yenisei and 

 Obi Rivers, forming a tree about thirty feet in 

 height, with a trunk about ten inches in diameter 

 at base. The collector further states that it fruits 

 abundantly, and "the edible seeds are used by 

 the natives as food, and by travelers as nuts." It 

 is interesting to note that this heretofore compara- 

 tively rare species has a wider habitat, and is more 

 numerous than has generally been supposed, al- 

 though reported as having been found up to the 

 Amoor River, which takes its rise in the mountain 

 range dividing the Lena from the Amoor; hence | 

 it was reasonable to suppose it was more generally ' 

 distributed throughout Siberia and adjacent) 

 islands. Siebold found it in Kamtschatka ; and ' 

 various authors have described it in the list of 

 Japanese Coniferae, but only in the latter as an 

 introduced species, where it is said to be quite rare. 



I Pinus Koraiensis is placed by Dr. Engelmann 

 I in his recent revision of the genus Pinus, in the 

 sub-section Cembree, of his first section, Strobus. 

 It is distinguishable from the section Eustrobi by 

 reason of the parenchymateous ducts, and with 

 leaves sparingly serrulate, scarcely denticulate at 

 tip. This nut-bearing pine is well marked 

 throughout, and especially so in its cones and seeds, 

 the latter being wingless, subangulate, flatly com- 

 pressed, leaving on both sides of the scale when 

 removed, remarkably deep impressions. The 

 cones are very distinctive, with long reflexed 

 scales, terminating in an abrupt mucro-like apex. 

 The leaf-characters in the specimens before me 

 coincide with the published description given bv 

 Dr. Engelmann, in relation to the absence (or 

 nearly so) of hypoderm or strengthening cells, as 

 well as in other peculiar features of the Cembran 

 group. 



Murray, in his "Pines and Firs of Japan," re- 

 cords its height from ten to twelve feet, yet Parla- 

 tore, on the authority of Perfetti, gives it at " some- 

 times thirty to thirty-three feet." The latter is 

 corroborated by Chief Engineer Melville, thus 

 showing conclusively that it is a true northern 

 species, attaining only its greatest size near the 

 extreme limits of arboreal vegetation ; and yet, 

 like all other species of nut-pines, it never forms a 

 large-sized tree. 



This species will no doubt make a valuable 

 addition to our list of ornamental Conifers, as its 

 hardiness is unquestioned, and the foliage is as 

 attractive as any other of the white pine group. 



