THE TRUE PINES. 235 



green, and thickly set on the younger branches ; sheaths, long, 

 rather smooth, and persistent ; shoots, rather slender, and pen- 

 dulous at the extremities. Cones, egg-shaped, solitary, broadest 

 near the base, and tapering to a point, three inches and a half 

 long, and two inches and a half broad near the base, with a 

 very hard, shining surface of a pale, glossy, yellow colour, free 

 from resinous matter, and with rather a long footstalk. Scales, 

 depressed, or bluntly pyramidal, three-quarters of an inch wide, 

 with elevated bands from the centre to the corners, particularly 

 towards the apex, and irregularly four-sided. Seeds, middle- 

 sized, with rather a broad wing, one inch long. Seed-leaves, 

 seven or eight in number. 



A small tree, growing from forty to fifty feet high, with an 

 ample spreading head, and rather pendulous branches, found 

 on the volcanic mountain of Jorullo, and in other temperate 

 parts of Mexico, in great abundance. 



It is not hardy in England, and has the following variety : — 



PiNus oocARPOiDES, Bentham. 

 Syn. Pinus Skinnerii, Hort. 



This is the Guatemala form of Pinus oocarpa, and only differs 

 from it in having smaller and more pyramidal cones, and slen- 

 derer leaves than the Mexican plant. It is found in the Pine 

 tracts abundantly in various parts of Guatemala, particularly 

 on the low ranges of ' Choacus,' in the province of Vera Paz, 

 at an elevation of about 4,000 feet ; and although it descends 

 nearly to the shores of the Bay of Honduras, it never occurs on 

 the south coast, or at a higher elevation than 5,000 feet above 

 the level of the sea. 



It is a beautiful tree, fifty or sixty feet high, but quite tender 

 in England. 



No. 81. Pinus Orizaba, Gordon, the Orizaba Pine. 



Leaves, in fives, from eight to nine inches in length on the 

 wild specimens, and rather longer on the young plants in culti- 



