520 EVERGREEN TREES AND SHRUBS. 



THE RED PINE. P. rubra (P. resinosa). Leaves in two's, four 

 to five inches long, straight, stiff, yellowish-green, thickly set on the 

 shoots, compressed and collected in bunches at the extremities of 

 the branches. Branches rather naked, straight, open, and reddish 

 brown. Very similar to the above in most respects. 



THE TABLE MOUNTAIN PINE. P. pungens. This species was 

 described by Michaux more than forty years ago as one of the 

 rarest and most peculiar of American pines ; yet it is little known 

 away from the high mountains of the Carolinas and East Tennessee, 

 in which region alone it is found. There can be little doubt of its 

 hardiness in most parts of our country. A tree of more irregular 

 and spreading growth than is common to American pines ; color of 

 foliage a light yellowish-green ; leaves in two's, resembling those 

 of the Scotch fir ; " cones top-shaped, rather large, light yellowish- 

 brown, three and a half inches long, generally in whorls around the 

 stem and top branches, pointing horizontally, and remaining on the 

 tree for years " (Gordon). Old trees are said to exhibit a tabular 

 form of top. It is strange that this tree is still almost unknown in 

 nurseries and home-grounds. It seems to have peculiarities of 

 form and color to make it valuable. Height forty to fifty feet. 



SHORT-LEAVED YELLOW OR SPRUCE PINE. P. mitis. This 

 variety is found all along the coast from Connecticut to the Gulf of 

 Mexico, generally associated with the Jersey scrub pine oh light 

 poor soils. Height fifty to ninety feet. " The branches are spread- 

 ing on the lower part of the trunk, but become less divergent as 

 they approach the top of the tree, where they are bent towards the 

 body so as to form a summit regularly pyramidal, but not spacious 

 in proportion to the dimension of the trunk." This narrow conical 

 form of head has given rise to the name of spruce pine. Josiah 

 Hoopes, in his Book of Evergreens, mentions the changeable color 

 of its leaves, "softly merging from a bright bluish-green to the 

 darkest hue in alternate changes of light and shade," as a pleasing 

 feature. 



THE LONG-LEAVED YELLOW, OR GEORGIA PITCH PINE. P. 



