24 Bulletin 194 



PINACEAE— PINE FAMILY 



THE PINES 



The pines are the largest and most useful group of trees included 

 in the great cone-bearing family. There are nine different species in 

 the eastern United States, four of which are found in Vermont. 



The pines, like the other members of this family, produce their 

 seeds in cones. They are peculiar, however, in that their cones require 

 two years for maturing. The flowers also take the form of cones, the 

 pollen-bearing and the ovule-bearing clusters being separated, though 

 both may be found on the same tree. The yellow pollen matures in 

 May or June, when it is scattered in great abundance, to be borne to its 

 destination by the wind. Most of the seed-bearing cones develop on 

 the upper branches, and the nut-like seeds escape from them during the 

 second autumn. The empty cones with opened scales thereafter may 

 cling to the tree for some time or they may fall soon. 



The leaves of all the evergreens cling to the branches several years. 

 The leaves of the white pine, for example, drop when they are three 

 or four years old. The arrangement of the leaves, or needles, in clus- 

 ters of from two to five, with the base of each cluster encased in a 

 delicate sheath, offers a simple means of distinguishing the species. 



Introduced species. — Two European pines, the Austrian and the 

 Scotch, are often planted in Vermont as forest trees as well as for 

 ornamental purposes. The Scotch pine has leaves two in a cluster, 

 2-4 inches long, flat and of a bluish-white hue. The Austrian pine has 

 dark green, slender, rigid leaves, two in a cluster, 4-6 inches long. 



