p. BANKSIANA 51 



under the circumstances above described, should 

 read rather as a merit than demerit, but not in the 

 sense that those whom the gods love die young. 



The P. Echinata and P. Virginiana read rather as 

 a complex problem for dissociating purposes. 



There are these differences : the leaf of the Echinata 

 is three-sided, the leaf of the Virginiana two-sided, 

 and the difference of the basal sheath should be 

 capable of affording a key to solution. The shoots 

 of both show a bloom of blue or violet coloration. 



Loudon pointed out, and it is well worth remem- 

 bering by those trying to learn their trees, that only 

 two of the two-leaved Conifers have these coloured 

 shoots, and they are the subjects of our discussion, 

 and that only two of the Ternate, or three-leaved 

 Pines, had shoots of this hue, and they were the 

 P. Coulteri and Sabiniana. To this we ought to add 

 the P. Jeffreyi of the same group, a tree invented 

 since the days of Loudon, the shoots of which 

 are somewhat similar, but of a paler shade of colour, 

 that you might better describe as of a light helio- 

 trope tint. 



The P. Echinata and Virginiana are said to be 

 hardly distinguishable in their youth, and seemingly 

 pretty much of the same pattern in their adolescence 

 and old age. Yet not like Tennyson's two sisters, 

 " both beautiful alike." They both seem cast in 

 an opposite mould, and must have been at some 

 distance round the corner when good looks were being 

 distributed among the families of Pine trees. 



P. Banksiana is a tree a great deal oftener seen 

 than others of this group. Its natural habit seems 

 to be sandy soils and the most barren of localities. 

 It is not recommended by the faculty as a tree to 

 cultivate, yet some who run shootings on high lands 

 and barren tops, where coppice scarce makes show, 

 5 



