BOTANY. 



41 



the form of the Italian stone pine. The foliage is pale bluish-green and thin, and the whole 

 aspect of the tree light and airy. 



"The cones are usually solitary, ovoid in form, sometimes as large as one's head, and very 

 ponderous, they are covered with spurs, or strong curved spires, an inch or more in length, of 

 which the broad bases cover all the exposed portion of the scales. The seeds are as large as 

 large beans and very palatable, having, however, a slightly terebinthine taste." 



This description, which subsequent observations fully confirmed, included nearly everything 

 necessary to be said of the tree. It will be noticed that it differs in several respects from that 

 given by Douglas, so much so that if there were any other tree in California to which his 

 description could better apply, I should be inclined to consider the common "nut pine" as 

 distinct from his P. sabiniana. 



He represents the form of the tree as conical, the cones, much as I have described them, but 

 in verticils of three to nine. The leaves eleven to fourteen inches in length in threes, some- 

 times four in a sheath ; while in those I saw, the form was diffuse, the cones solitary, the 

 leaves eight to ten inches long, always in threes. The description of P. coulteri, given by Don 

 in Lin. Trans., vol. 17, page 440, in some respects agrees better with that of the California 

 nut pine than does Douglas' description just cited. This tree (P. coulteri) he describes as 

 having " an altitude of eighty to one hundred feet, with large permanently spreading tranches — 

 ternate leaves larger and broader than those of any other known species — and of a glaucous 

 hue. Cones oblong, solitary, very large — twelve inches in length by six in diameter — com- 

 parable to sugar loaves, the spirous processes of the scales three to four inches in length, as 

 thick as one's finger, seed as large as an almond, eatable." 



Without authenticated specimens for comparison, I would not presume to decide on the 

 identity or difference of P. coulteri and P. sabiniana; still from the description of P. coulteri, 

 I should infer that this was only an unusually large and strong form of the nut pine of northern 

 California, and notwithstanding the discrepancies of description. Authenticated specimens of 

 P. sabiniana which I have seen, being undistinguishable, to my eye, from those I brought from 

 California, it would seem probable that the " nut pine," of northern California, is the P. 

 sabiniana of Douglas and P. coulteri of Don. If so, Douglas' name must take precedence, as 

 it was first bestowed. It is, perhaps, necessary to say in this connexion that there are so many 

 "nut pines" in the far west, that without discrimination the use of the term will beget con- 

 fusion. Aside from the three leaved species, of which I have spoken, there are in New Mexico 

 the pinon of the Mexicans — P. edulis of Englemann — which is two leaved ; in the Rocky 

 mountains and Cascade range, P. monophyllus , Torry and Fremont, which is one leaved ; and 

 P. flexilis, Torry and James, which are five leaved, all of which produce seeds as large and 

 palatable as those of P. Cembra of Europe. 



The timber furnished by P. sabiniana is of little value. It is not wanting in tenacity, but 

 its spreading form reduces the dimensions and value of the trunk, and the wood is resinous 

 and the grain irregular. 



As an ornament to cultivated grounds it is well worth attention. The form and foliage of 

 the tree are pleasing, and the huge and bristling cones filled with eatable nuts are among the 

 most curious and interesting forms of vegetable fructification, and would not inappropriately 

 find a place among the ornaments and delicacies of the table. When we think that thousands 

 of beings, red skinned but human, look to these pine trees for their winter store of food — after 

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