PINE FAMILY 43 



altitudes. It is a forest tree, 60 to 225 ft. high, with mas- 

 sive trunk and a long, open crown, the lower branches often 

 horizontal or drooping. The Jeffrey Pine (P. ponderosa var. 

 jeffreyi Vasey) is a variety in which the bark is rough, even 

 in old trees, and the cones are larger (5 to 8 or even 11^4 in. 

 long) ; the foliage is very dense, dark blue-green, and fra- 

 grant. It grows mostly at higher levels than the true Yellow 

 Pine, mixing with that form where the ranges overlap, as in 

 Little Yosemite Valley, but extending, in some cases, to 

 altitudes of 9000 ft. 



5. P. sabiniana Dougl. Digger Pine. Gray Pine. Bark 

 rough, ashen. Leaves in 3's, 6 to 12 in. long, sparse and 

 grayish. Cones massive, breaking through near the base and 

 falling, short-oval, 6 to 10 in. long, 4 to 6 in. thick, each scale 

 tapering to a stout incurved beak 1 in. long. 



The Digger Pine is a broad, round-topped tree, 40 to 60 ft. 

 high, with usually several trunks from the ground. It is a 

 foothill species ranging up to Hetch Hetchy and a few 

 stragglers reach the Wawona Road near Alder Creek. 



6. P. murrayana Ore. Com. Lodgepole Pine. Murray 

 Pine. Bark very thin, covered with 



small scales. Leaves in 2's, 1 to 3 in. 

 long. Cones nearly globose when open, 

 1 to 1}£ in. long; the scales thin, prickle- 

 tipped. (P. contorta var. murrayana 

 Engelm.) 



The Lodgepole Pine is a slender, sym- 

 metrical tree, usually 50 to 100 ft. high 

 (dwarfed or prostrate near timber-line), 



with pyramidal crown, the trunk often with branches nearly 

 to the ground. It is confined to moist soil and therefore 

 grows along streams or meadows or on fairly level land, 

 occurring on hillsides only at the higher altitudes. It belongs 

 to a higher belt than the Yellow Pine, but often grows with 

 it, as along the Merced River in Yosemite Valley. In Cali- 

 fornia it is often called "Tamarack," but the true Tamarack 

 (Larix) is a deciduous tree which does not occur native in 

 this state. 



7. P. monophylla Torr. One-leaf Pinon. Bark thick, 

 rough. Leaves one in a place, cylindric, curved, V/i to 2 in. 

 long. Cones subglobose, 2y 2 to 3^ in. long; scales thick, 

 each bearing a minute deciduous prickle. 



This small, flat-crowned nut pine was found at about 5500 

 ft. alt. in the Piute Creek gorge above the Tuolumne River, 



