36 



BOTANY. 



In the Cascade mountains P. contorta forms a large part of the forests in the lower valleys, 

 where it is sometimes seen nearly as closely set and as slender as canes in a cane-brake. It is 

 common on the lower slopes and rises, scattered and dwarfed, to about the altitude of 6,000 

 feet ; but its favorite station is evidently the moist valleys and plains. 



This tree approaches P. inops so closely that it is perhaps doubtful if it should be separated 

 from it. The cones and foliage are, to my eye, undistinguishable, and the cones are similarly 

 persistent. The habit of the western tree is, however, somewhat unlike that of its eastern 

 representative. It is never so spreading, and in some of the localities I have mentioned is 

 more slender than any other pine with which I am acquainted. 



Pixus PONDEROSA. (Plate IV.) The western yellow pine. 



P. PONDEROrfA, Dougl. Loud. Arboret, p. 2243, figs. 2133 and 2134. 



P. BRACHYPTERA, Eiigel . Bot. Wish. Exp., p. 5. 



P. ENGELMANNI Torrey. Bot. W hippie s Hep., p. 141. 



P. BEARDSLEYI, Murray. Edenb. New Pldlos. Jour., 1855,^9. 286. 



P. BENTHAMIANA, Hartweg. Jour. Hort. Soc. Lond. } 4, fig. 213. 



Fig. 12. 



&quot;?&quot;ig. 12. Cone, scales and leaves of P. Ponderosa, natural size. 



