NOTES ON WEST AMERICAN CONIFEH^Sl. 159 



can state, however, most positively that tliis species cannot 

 be confounded with Pintis mimcaia. Both species are two- 



w 



leaved but in every other respect they differ widely." 



It seems that the botanist did not see the few trees of true 

 Piniis conioria^ then, as now, growing on the Mendocino 

 bluff; but if he had detected them it is doubtful if he would 

 have been saved from committing the error of assigning the 

 wrong names to both of his trees; the one he stated '*most 

 positively" was not P. mnricaia is exactly that species, and 

 vice versa. 



Time passed and other botanists visited the region and 

 forwarded specimens of these plants to Eastern herbaria, 

 upon which Pinus Bolanderi was soon declared to be but a 

 starved form of P. conioria, the scrub pine of the Northwest 



Coast. 



But botanists are not all agreed upon this reduction of 

 Bolander's little pine, and Romeyn B. Hough, while collect- 

 ing last winter specimens of California tree-trunks to slice 

 into thin sections for educational purposes, gathered also 

 extreme specimens of branchlets wdth their diverse cones 

 and leaves, and he was positive that the little pine on the 

 plains was not of the same species as the true Pinus contorta 

 which he met with in abundance ten miles northward near 

 the mouth of Noyo river. Hence our recent trip. 



Embarking in the little steamer Point Arena, and voyag- 

 ing along the coast, one kind of bluff pine, Pimts mnricaia^ 

 was often in sight with our glasses. At length we 

 reached Mendocino, and climbed the ancient stairway to the 

 top of the bold promontory, passed clumps of low-headed 

 pines,* and were soon seated in a strong vehicle for a drive 

 through the town and out into the wonderful woods, charac- 

 teristic of the great lumber region of the Northwest Coast 



It matters not how often one may be privileged to explore 

 these regions, every trip reveals new objects for study. I 

 shall not attempt to describe the magnificent redwood forests 

 we visited in the interior during the days that followed, nor 



^Finus contorta. 



