THE TRUE PINES. 1!J5 



seldom attains a height of more than twenty feet, or eight or 

 ten inches in diameter, but is very branching, and has a pecu- 

 liar but pleasant odour when bruised. It is perfectly hardy, 

 for Colonel Fremont frequently found the thermometer at two 

 degrees below zero at night, and four feet of snow, where it 

 grew. The cones are produced in great abundance, and the 

 seeds are gathered by the Indians for their principal winter 

 and spring subsistence, either taken out and kept dry in their 

 huts, or left in their natural storehouse, the cones in heaps 

 under the trees, where they remain tolerably dry until wanted 

 for use ; the Indians are said to live upon them alone for months 

 and months without any other kind of food. 



Dr. Torrey first gave the name of Pinus monophylla to this 

 pine, from a supposition that the leaves were mostly solitary ; 

 but Professor Endlicher, who afterwards examined more perfect 

 specimens, found that the leaves were in twos and threes, and 

 that the solitary leaves arose from Dr. Torrey's specimens 

 being either gathered from young trees, or very stunted ones ; 

 he consequently altered Dr, Torrey's name of ' monophylla' to 

 that of Fremontiana, in compliment to Colonel Fremont, its 

 first discoverer. 



It is the thin-shelled edible pine of the Californians, and 

 is an article of commerce with the Indians, when in season, 

 under the name of ' Nut Pine.' It is quite hardy, but a very 

 slow-growing kind. 



Mr. Jeffrey found it on Mount Jefferson, in Cascade Range, 

 at an elevation of 6,500 feet, growing on a red sandstone soil, a 

 tree twenty feet high, and ten inches in diameter. 



No. 31. Pinus Gerardiana, Wullich, Captain Gerard's Pine. 

 Syn. Pinus Neoza, Govern, 

 „ „ Chilghosa, Elphinstone. 

 „ „ Aucklandii, Loddiyes. 



Leaves, in threes, stiff, three-edged, stout, and bluntly termi- 

 nating in a short point ; from three to five inches long, of a 

 bluish green colour, and glaucous when young. Sheaths, short 



o 2 



