88 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



altogether. In common with other plants Scots pine has been 

 subjected to these changes, and it is now a matter of great 

 difficulty to say what were the characters of the original form. 

 Variations mentioned in this note are to be taken as divergences 

 of broad groups of trees from each other without reference to a 

 type form. 



In Scots pine the shape of the cones and the appearance of 

 the apophyses is a common form of variation, and varieties 

 have been named on this character alone. Variations also 

 occur in the needles, habits of stems and twigs, types of bark 

 and colour of the staminate flowers. 1 



In our native pine woods it is possible to find trees bearing 

 cones whose apophyses scarcely protrude {form plana, H. Christ.), 

 as well as trees bearing cones with apophyses which show all 

 the varying grades of protrusion, even up to those with slightly 

 or distinctly reflexed hooks (approaching form reflexa, Heer). 

 The last-named form is often found on crippled trees growing 

 under xerophytic conditions, but it is not confined to these alone. 

 Trees bearing cones near the reflexa "type have been found by 

 the writer on well-grown trees in the native woods and also in 

 one of the finest planted woods in the south of Scotland. In 

 this planted wood trees with cones of the plana and reflexa 

 types grew alongside each other, towering to a height of 

 about 90 feet, with stems and crowns showing no practical 

 and constant differences. 



Variation in the needles generally shows itself in the length, 

 breadth, degree of glaucousness and duration. These are 

 characters which, in the same species, are to some extent 

 influenced by the environment and robustness of the trees. 

 Very short needled forms (parvifolia, Heer) are not at all 

 common. 



Of all the characters the stem form and branching are techni- 

 cally of most importance. In Scotland mention is often made 

 of pine of the Mar, Rannoch, Strathspey and other forests, 

 indicating that in any one of these woods the mass of the stems 

 and crowns is supposed to show characters distinct from what 

 is found in others. Differences in the timber are also claimed, 

 and the Rannoch man will assert that timber from the Black 



1 Klein describes these variations as " Lusus " (or sports), and names several 

 sorts. He also names several forms that originated owing to environmental 

 factors. 



