40 8 The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland 



twelve lines of stomata on the convex surface and eight lines on the flat surface ; resin 

 canals median, surrounded by stereome cells, meristele elliptic, fibro-vascular bundle 

 branched. Basal sheath about ^ inch long, brown near the base, whitish above, 

 becoming on old leaves short, lacerated, and blackish. 



Male flowers clustered, three to ten or more in number, on the lower half of 

 the branchlet of the first year, which grows beyond the inflorescence and bears 

 leaves above ; later, when the flowers drop off", these fertile branches appear to be 

 bare of leaves in their lower half The male flowers are upright, yellow, cylindric, 

 stalked, about an inch long ; connective crest large, purplish, finely toothed. , 

 Female flowers single or two to three at the top of the young branchlets, very 

 shortly stalked and bright red in colour, remaining as small (^ inch diameter) 

 globular cones till the beginning of the second year. 



Cones ripe at the end of the second year, solitary or in pairs or threes, sub- 

 terminal, sessile ; variously directed, upwards, horizontally, or even curving down- 

 wards ; shining brown ; ovoid-conic, 2 to 3 inches long by an inch in diameter, 

 straight or curved, symmetrical, ending in a narrow apex. The cones open in the 

 spring or summer of the third year and soon after the escape of the seeds fall off". 

 Scales about an inch long ; concealed part thin, dark reddish brown below and light 

 brown above ; apophysis or visible part shining yellowish brown, raised, rounded 

 at the upper margin, with a transverse keel, curved on each side of the central 

 umbo, which is reddish brown and bears a minute or obsolete prickle. Seeds greyish 

 or brownish, more or less mottled, about ^ inch long ; wing three or four times as 

 long, striated light brown, straight on one side and gently curved on the other, about 

 ^ inch wide at the broadest part, which is at the middle or just below it. Seedling 

 with six or seven cotyledons. 



The diffierent geographical forms may be arranged as follows : 



1. Var. corsicana, Loudon, loc. cit. (yzx. poiretiana, Antoine, Conif. 6:1840), 

 Corsican Pine. Occurs in south-east Spain, Corsica, southern Italy, Greece, and 

 Crete. 



A tall tree with straight stem and slender branches. Leaves light green in 

 colour, not extremely dense upon the branchlets, the whole aspect of the foliage 

 being lighter in colour and sparser in quantity than in the Austrian pine. Buds 

 not very resinous. Cones usually without radiating cracks on the apophyses. 



Var. calabrica, Loudon, loc. cit., is scarcely distinguishable. As seen under 

 cultivation at Les Barres, it has perhaps slightly denser foliage than the Corsican 

 variety growing beside it. 



2. Var. austriaca, Loudon, loc. cit. (Pinus nigra, Arnold ; Pinus austriaca, Hoss ; 

 Pinus nigricans, Host ; Pinus Laricio, var. nigricans, Parlatore). Austrian Pine. 

 Austria, Balkan Peninsula, Crimea, Caucasus, Asia Minor. 



Shorter tree, with numerous stout branches. Leaves dark green in colour, 

 extremely dense upon the branchlets, giving the whole tree a dense dark crown of 

 foliage. Buds resinous, whitish, stouter than in the Corsican pine. Cones usually 

 showing radiating cracks in the apophyses. 



Vzx. pallasiana, Endlicher, Syn. Conif. {Pinus pallasiana, Loudon, cp. cit. 2206). 



