1 130 The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland 



Distribution 



This species is widely spread in the mountainous regions of central and southern 

 Europe, 1 extending from Spain in the west to Bukovina in the east, and from the 

 Vosges and Lausitz (Saxony) in the north to the Abruzzi mountains in Italy and 

 Perim Dagh in Macedonia, its most southerly stations. 2 The distribution of the 

 mountain pine and of its varieties appears to depend mainly on the encroachment 

 and competition of other species of conifers. In the west and south-west, where the 

 spruce, its greatest rival, is rare or absent, it descends to comparatively low levels, 

 and is a fine tree forming extensive forests ; whereas in the central, eastern, and 

 south-eastern parts of its range it has to contend with the spruce or larch, and occa- 

 sionally with P. Cembra, and driven to high altitudes, it has become a mere shrub. 

 In many parts it also forms woods on peat-mosses at moderate elevations in the 

 mountains, where it grows better than either P. sylvestris or the spruce. 



In Spain it occurs from the Sierra de Cuenca through Aragon and Catalonia to 

 the central * and eastern Pyrenees, forming vast forests, which were first described 

 by Capt. Cook (Widdrington). 4 In the Pyrenees the spruce is a rare tree, found 

 sparsely mixed with silver fir, and the larch is totally absent. In consequence the 

 mountain pine reigns alone in this range at high elevations, occurring between 5000 

 and 8000 ft., and attaining its maximum development, trees 100 ft. in height and 9 ft. 

 in girth having been measured by the French forest officers. Sir J. Stirling- 

 Maxwell, 5 who visited this region in winter, says that the finest forests were then 

 inaccessible, but he obtained excellent photographs of woods of this species at lower 

 levels, where trees about seventy years old averaged 55 ft. in height and 3 ft. in 

 girth. He notes the straight cylindrical stems of the Pyrenean variety, with grey 

 coloured bark, and a narrow crown of foliage, and compares the tree in all its stages 

 of growth to the Corsican pine. On account of its narrow pyramidal habit and 

 tough elastic wood it scarcely suffers from heavy snowfall, and is in marked contrast 

 in this respect to P. sylvestris, which grows from lower levels up to where the moun- 

 tain pine begins. Up to forty years old it is relatively fast in growth, being a slender 

 and regular tree, but after this age there is a marked diminution in height growth, 

 accompanied by increase in thickness of the stem and by a rounder crown. Still at 

 seventy years it preserves its narrow pyramidal habit, the stout cylindrical stem 

 carrying branches which are remarkably short and light. Its root system is shallower 

 than that of P. sylvestris, which can only keep pace with it in growth in the Pyrenees 

 on the better soils. The mountain pine is the least exacting of trees, whether as 

 regards soil, aspect, or climate. 



1 C. Reid, in Journ. Linn. Soc. (Bot.) xxxviii. 220 (1908), doubts the occurrence of this species in British pre-glacial 

 deposits, where it had been identified by Heer and Saporta. 



' Judging from the description, P. Kochiana, Klotsch, and P. armena, Koch, both in Linnaa, xxii. 297 (1849) are 

 incorrectly referred to P. montana by Medwejew in Bdume u. Strauchc Kaukasus, i. 14 (1907). This peculiar pine occurring 

 in the Caucasus around Ardahan, near Kars, and in Daghestan, has hooked cone-scales, and is P. sylvestris, var. hamata. 

 Steven, in Bull. Soc. Nat. Mosc. xi. 52 (1838). 



* The forests in the central part of the Pyrenees (departments of Ariege and Haute-Garonne) are nearly all destroyed ; 

 those in the eastern part (Pyrenees Orientales and Hautes- Pyrenees) are still of considerable extent. Mathieu, op. cit. 596. 



4 Cf. Loudon, op. cit. 21S8. 



In Trans. Roy. Scot. Arb. Soc. xxi. 10-15, fi gs- IO (I98). 



