2264- 



ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM. 



PART III. 



in raedicine ; and a miraculous spring is supposed to have flowed from its 

 root, which cured all diseases, till an avaricious priest put it under lock and 

 key, not allowing any one to taste the water, unless they first gave ample 

 alms, when, as a punishment for his cupidity, the stream dried up. {Ibid., 

 p. 152.) The Isle of Palma has also a. pino santo which grows about 2727 ft. 

 above the level of the sea. This tree, which is said to have been in existence 

 at the time of the conquest of the Canaries (1483), shows no signs of age. A 

 small statue of the Virgin is placed among its branches, beside which is sus- 

 pended a kind of lamp ; and every evening the woodcutters of the forest light 

 this lamp, which is seen to a great distance glimmering through the trees. 

 (Ibid., p. lo4.) The timber of P. canariensis is said to be very resinous, 

 not liable to be attacked by insects, and, in favourable situations, to endure 

 for centuries. The inhabitants of the Canaries use the wood for torches. The 

 species may be propagated by making cuttings of the young shoots which 

 proceed from the dormant buds (see Description above, and p. 2128.), or by 

 grafting on P. sylvestris or P. Pinaster. 



1 26. P. sine'nsis Lamb. The Chinese Pine. 



Jdentificalion. Lamb. Pin., ed., 2. 1. t. 29. 



Engravings Lamb. Pin., ed. 2., 1. 1. 29. ; and our^. 2168., to our usual scale, from a specimen of a 



tree at Redleaf; ar\A figs. 2169. and 2170., of the natural size, the cone and leaves from Lambert, 



and the bud from Redleaf. 



Spec. Char., S^c. Leaves in threes, sometimes in twos, very slender. Male 

 catkins short. Cones ovate ; scales truncate at the apex, with- 

 out any point. {Lamb., and obs.) A large tree. Branches 

 tubercled. Leaves squarrose, with stipular scales; twin, or in 

 threes, slender, spreading, semicylindrical, mucronated, serrulated ; 

 grass green, 5 in. long: sheaths cylindrical, h in. long. Male 

 catkins numerous, somewhat verticillate, \ in. long. Cones with 

 very short footstalks, ovate, brownish, 2 in. long ; scales thick, 

 woody, tetragonal at the apex, flattened, truncate, mutic. {Lamb.) 

 Buds, in the Redleaf specimen (see fig. 2167.), from -^ in. to 

 ^ in. in length, and about the same breadth; bluntly pointed, 

 with numerous fine scales, of a brownish colour, and wholly 

 without resin. Leaves from Sin. to 5iin.in length; three-sided, 



slender, straight, and about the 



same colour as those of P. Pi- 



nea; sheaths from | in. to ^ in. 



2167 



long; brownish, slightly membranaceous, and rigid. A native of China. 

 There is a tree at Redleaf, raised by William Wells, Esq., from .seeds 



