266 PRACTICAL FORESTRY. 



three to four thousand feet above it. Found in California, only 

 in the Coast Ranges, principally in the southern part of the 

 State. I obtained cones of this species, and several others grow- 

 ing in the same region some twenty odd years ago, at a cost of 

 ten dollars each, but have no personal acquaintance with the 

 wood, but it is said to be brittle. The tree reaches a hight of a 

 hundred feet in favorable situations. Too tender for cultivation 

 in our Northern States, but may succeed south of Washington. 



P. ednlis, Engelm. — Pinon, Nut Pine. — Leaves variable in 

 number, usually three in a sheath, but often only two ; about 

 two inches long, rigid, and sharp-pointed. Cones two to three 

 inches long, composed of numerous small scales at base, and a 

 few larger ones, nearly an inch broad above. Scales blunt, 

 with a yellow reflexed resin-covered tip. Seed a half inch or 

 more in length, cylindrical, shell thin and brittle, kernel white, 

 sweet, and excellent flavored. Seeds two at the base of the up- 

 permost scales, and usually only one in the lowest fruiting 

 row. This is the most highly prized of all the nut pines for its 

 seeds, of which large quantities are gathered by the Indians 

 residing in the regions where the tree aboimds. The cones are 

 whipped from the trees and then spread out in the sun, where 

 they soon open, allowing the nut-Uke seeds to drop out. The 

 trees are not, however, regular bearers, and in some localities a 

 fuU crop is only jjroduced every five to seven years. A low- 

 growing tree, twenty to thirty feet high, with a stem a foot in 

 diameter. Wood most excellent fuel. In groves, or scattering 

 along the dry banks of canyons, and in stony soils, from Colo- 

 rado, through New Mexico and Arizona. Hardy in our North- 

 ern Atlantic States, but foliage sometimes burns in summer. 



P. Elliottii, Engelm. — Elliott's Pine. — A species said to be more 

 or less common near the coast in South Carolina and Florida, 

 growing among and often confounded with the common Old 

 Field Pine (P. Tceda). It may prove to be the P. Tceda, var. 

 heterophyUa, of Elliott, described in his Botany of South Caro- 

 lina, Vol. II, p. 636. Leaves not of a uniform number in a 

 sheath. 



P. flexilis, James. — Western White Pine.— Leaves in fives, two 

 to two and a half inches long, somewhat rigid and triangular, 

 sharp-pointed, and densely crowded on the branchlets, of a 

 rich, dark-green color. Cones cylindric tapering, four to six 

 inches long, and two to three in diameter. Scales thick, an inch 

 and a quarter broad, woody, and of a greenish -yellow color 



