7o 



Mediterranean region. This valuable tree does well in the Sydney district 

 and in the coastal district generally. It attains a very large size, and is one 

 of the Pines which is worthy of attention in any scheme of Australian forestry, 

 involving artificial planting. Because of its flat top it is the most easily 

 recognise 1 of all Pines. 



U 3, L 29 a (Sydney Botanic Gardens). 



(24.) P. pnmlc.roxn, Dougl. "Wes'ern Yellow Pine." "Bull Pine." 

 Sargent, tN 560-64. 



The western Yellow Pine or Pinu* ponderosa is the most widely distributed Pine-tree 

 of the mountain forests of western North America, where it spreads from the interior of 

 British Columbia from about latitude 57 N. southwards to Mexico and eastwards to 

 northern Nebraska, the foot-hdls of the Rocky Mountains of Colorado and western Texas. 

 Usually an inhabitant of dry elevated slopes, where it often forms open forests of great 

 extent, it flourishes also on the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada in the comparatively 

 humid climate of northern California, where it attains its largest size ; and in California 

 it grows occasionally in wet and swampy ground. . . 



. . A tree of such enormous range over a region of so many different climates has 

 naturally developed many forms, and no other American Pine-tree varies nv>re in size 

 and habit, in the character of the bark, length of leaves and size of cones. Sometimes 

 it is '250 feet high, with a trunk 12 feet in diameter, covered with bright cinnamon-red 

 bark broken into great plates ; sometimes it attains with a difficulty a height of 50 feet, 

 and its bark is nearly black and deeply furro.ved. Such variations in the character of 

 the bark are not always due to climate, and individual with the red bark of the 

 Californian tree and the black bark of the inhabitant of the arid slopes of the Colorado 

 mountains stand side by side in northern Arizona, to the discouragement of the botanist 

 anxious to understand this tree and the causes of its variations. One hundred 

 photographs would not be too many t^ illustrate the appearance of Pinus />on<terosa in 

 the different part^ of the country which it inhabits ; and an attempt to describe the 

 different forms with any words at our command would be hopeless. ( Veltch'ts 

 Manual, pp. 364-5.) 



Prof. B. E. Fernow says that this is one of the best timber Pines of the 

 United States, and that it is well adapted to dry, windy, exposed places. It 

 is evidently a hardy Pine. 



This is a species riot a great success in Sydney, but hardy in many parts 

 of Britain, but I recommend seed for New South Wales to be, as far as 

 possible, obtained from Californian trees. 



The wood of Plans ponderosa varies greatly in quality, strength and durability in 

 different parts of the region over which it is distributed ; the wood of the western tree 

 is heavy, hard, str ng, and fine-grained, but not durable in contact with the soil. 

 ( Vtiteh's Manual, p 366). 



See also "Forest Planting Leaflet," Forest Service Circular 72, U.S. 

 Dept. Agriculture. 



L. 30 (Sydney Botanic Garden-). 



Var. Jeffreyi (P. Jeffrt^i, Murr.) " Jeffrey Pine." California. See Gard. 

 Chron. 1889, v. 361, f. 65. 



Distinguished in Oregon from the typical P>nut ponderosa by its more pung^ntly 

 aromatic resinous secretions, its stiffer and more elastic leaves, persistent for a longer 

 time ; its yellow-green st-minate flowers, and its larger cones, armed with stronger 

 reflexed prickles. ( Vcitch'x Manual,, p. 364.) 



On the mountain above the Yosemite Valley is a wonderful forest of Pine-trees, com- 

 posed of P. ponderom var. Jeffreyi; the trees stand sometimes close together, sometimes at 

 a considerable distance apart ; they are often 250 to 300 feet high, their massive trunks 

 111 to 12 feet in diameter, and free of branches, except near the top of the tree. There 

 are not many things more impressive or more beautiful than these trunks ; the bark is 

 excessively thick, and broken by deep fissures into great armour-like plates, across 

 which the sunlight, as it flickers down through the scanty canopy above, casts 

 shadows. ( VeitcWs Manual, p. 366. ) 



