Ion 



Bicknell : Ferns and flowering plants of Nantucket 57 



inch in length. On some branches the leaves were equally 

 dwarfed ; other branches bore both cones and leaves of normal size. 

 On the south side of the island many young trees have sprung up 

 along the abandoned bed of the railroad which ran from the town 

 to Surfside twelve years ago, the tracks having been taken up in 

 the summer of 1895. The largest of these trees has now reached 

 a height of seven feet as nearly as could be estimated without 

 actual measurement. 



Pin us sylvestris L. 



Said by Mrs. Owen to have been planted near the head of 

 Miacomet Pond in 1 876 together with Scotch larches. There is now 

 near the head of Miacomet Pond some rather extensive pine groves 

 flanked with thickets of European larches, which have evidently 



g been left to their own undisturbed course of growth, appear- 

 mg now as a wholly native feature of the vegetation. The pre- 

 vailing pine of these groves is Pinus rigida, but mingled with this 

 native tree are many Scotch pines both scattered and in groups, 

 the larger trees estimated to be fifteen to twenty feet in height. 

 A hat they have been slowly spreading is shown by smaller outlying 

 trees and occasional seedlings. 



These Scotch pines fruit prolifically and include several forms 

 of distinct appearance. One of these bears ovoid cones 3. 5-4.5 cm. 

 'ong, the scales little thickened at the tip or the basal ones becom- 

 Ir >g umbonate. Another form has larger, narrowly ovoid-conic or 

 tapering cones 5-7 cm. long by 2-2.5 cm. wide, the scales provided 

 w »th prominent often reflexed processes. With these occurs a 

 smaller tree characterized by very small cones only about 2 cm. 

 on g, which, when the scales spread at maturity, become broadly 

 ov oid-subglobose and 2.5 cm. wide; the leaves are 2.5-4 cm. in 

 en gth. Specimens of this tree agree closely with authentically 

 named sh eets of Pinus Pumilio Haenke in herb. N. Y. Bot. Garden, 



c °nes appearing identical, although the leaves are more slender. 



In 1900 a solitary tree of Pinus sylvestris bearing a single ovoid 

 ° ne Was m et with in a remote spot west of Sachacha. 



Larix decidua Mill. 



Near the head of Miacomet Pond with Pinus sylvestris and 

 UlUs ri Sida as described above and fruiting freely. The largest 



the 



