170 CONIFERS. [PiNus. 



cotyledons 2 or more. Species about 70, confined to the N. Hemis- 

 phere. 



P. longifolia, Eoxb. Fl. Ind. Hi, 651 ; Eoyle III. 353, t, 85, 

 f. 1 ; Brandis For. Fl. 506 ; Ind. Trees 690 ; F. B. I. F, 652 ; Watt 

 Comm. Prod. Ind. 889 ; Kanjildl For. Fl. (ed. 2). 431 ; Gamble Man. 

 706; Collett Fl. Siml. 485, fig.158.-Vem. Chir, chil (W. Him.), 

 dhup (Oudh). Long-leaved pine. 



A large more or less deciduous tree with symmetrical branches high 

 up on the trunk and forming a rounded head of light foliage. Bark 

 rough, reddish-brown outside, dark -red within, cut by deep fissures 

 into large irregular thin plates. Leaves in clusters of three, 9-12 in. 

 or longer, linear, slender, subtriquetrous. Sheaths persistent, 

 fimbriate, greyish -brown. Male-spikes ovoid, cylindric, about f in. 

 long. Fertile cones on short stiff stalks, spreading or recurved, 

 solitary or in whorls of 3-5, ovoid-conical, 4-7 in. long when mature 

 and about 3 in. in diam. above the base. Scales 1J-2 in. long and 

 f in. broad ; apex much thickened and with a 4-6-lobed tip which 

 is beaked in the centre. Seeds, including wing, J-l in. long ; its 

 wing obliquely oblanceolate, obtuse ; cotyledons about 12. 

 Wild on the Saharanpur Siwalik range at 2-3,000 ft. It is culti- 

 vated in Dehra Dun and in many other places within the northern 

 portion of the Upper Gangetic Plain. The tree flowers February 

 to April, and the seeds are shed during the hot weather of the 

 following year. The cones remain on the branches long after the 

 seeds have been shed. DISTRIB. : Outer Himalayan ranges and in 

 the valleys of the principal rivers from the Indus to Bhutan at eleva- 

 tions between 2,000 and 7,500 ft., reaching its highest altitude in 

 Kumaon. In Sikkim and Bhutan it rarely rises to over 3,000 ft. 

 The tree is gregarious in the Western Himalaya, where it forms pure 

 forests over very extensive areas. The resin obtained from the 

 sapwood of this tree is the most important of its products, which 

 include tar, turpentine, colophany and charcoal as bye-products. 

 The quantity of resin obtained per individual tree is much larger 

 a-s compared with that of the * Blue pine ' (Pinus excelsa), but the 

 quality is somewhat inferior. The timber is largely used by the 

 hill men for building and other purposes. It is not very durable, 

 especially when exposed to wet, and it is very liable both to insect 

 and fungoid attacks, and is altogether inferior to that of the * Blue 

 pine.' This latter tree (P. excelsa) occurs abundantly in the Temp. 

 Himalaya at elevations between 6,000 and 12,500 ft., extending 

 from Kafristan on the west to Sikkim and Bhutan eastwards, 

 except for certain gaps in Central and N.-W. Kumaon. For 



