64 PINES 



P. Montana var. Pumilio. — 



Where the hill-side slopes from the covert to the peat-stained stream 



below, 

 Small and of no reputation, the children of Nature grow : 

 On broken banks — and ridges — and the fringe of the bog beneath — 

 And out on the open spaces of the wide, eternal heath. 



E. M. Mills. 



The P. Montana, like the Pinus Cembra, has its 

 prostrate and creeping representative. The Montana 

 elects to call his miniature edition by the name of 

 Pumilio, while the Cembra has selected the word 

 Pumila as an appellation for the pygmies of his tribe. 



In point of fact, and when translated, they are one 

 and the same thing, these two words Pumilio and 

 Pumilus, and what they signify also is one and the 

 same thing, and that is ^' dwarf, "or if you like to make 

 use — and the dictionaries allow you the alternative — 

 of an old word, fallen into disuse but retaining a good 

 old Shakespearian ring about it, you may translate 

 either of them, Pumilio or Pumilus, as Dandy-prat. 

 Both these dwarf trees have a habit of forming them- 

 selves into a thicket of creeping, trunkless, tangled 

 undercover, which constitutes a retreat that the 

 foxes and wilder beasts of the country-side frequent 

 and adore, but through which glorious man can with 

 but difficulty crawl his way. 



Two scenes in illustration of such a growth flit 

 before my memory. The one a scene from Nature, 

 a thick cover of P. Montana var. Pumilio, planted 

 some years ago by J. Williams, of Scorrier (Cornwall), 

 the other a portrayal of art in picture form, of the 

 Cembran Dwarf Pine (the Pumila) growth, at some 

 6,700 ft. above sea-level in Japan, and on the sides 

 of a mountain named Ontake in the Island of Hondo. 

 The photograph referred to w^as taken by E. H. 

 Wilson in 191 6, and appears in the publications of 

 the Arnold Arboretum, No. 8, entitled Conifers and 



