PINUS CEMBKA. 317 



Nothing is definitely known of the geographical distribution of this 

 Pine beyond the simple fact that it is a native of North China 

 between Peking and the Western Hills, " one of the coldest and 

 most desolate-looking districts in winter which an inhabited and 

 cultivated country can well be," where it was detected by Fortune, 

 by whom it was introduced into Great Britain about the year 1846 

 or a little later, and into France in quantity in 1860 by M. Simon.. 

 It is still comparatively rare in British gardens owing to the 

 difficulty of procuring seeds. It has proved quite hardy, and its 

 neat habit and bright green .foliage impart to it a very ornamental 

 and distinct appearance. 



Mr. Fortune gives the following description of Pinus Bunyeana in 

 his " Yedo and Peking " : " Near the royal tombstones (at Peking) I 

 observed a species of Pine tree having a peculiar habit and most 

 striking appearance. It had a thick trunk which rose from the ground 

 to the height of three or four feet only; at this point some eight or ten 

 branches sprung out, not branching or bending in the usual way, but 

 rising perpendicularly as straight as a Larch to a height of 80 or 

 100 feet. The bark of the main stems and secondary stems was of 

 a milky white colour, peeling off like that of the Arbutus, and the- 

 leaves, which were chiefly on the top of the tree, were of a lighter 

 green than those of the common Pine. Altogether this tree had a 

 very curious appearance, very symmetrical in form, and the different 

 specimens which evidently occupied the most honourable places in the- 

 cemetery, were as like one another as they possibly could be. In all 

 my wanderings in India, China and Japan, I had never seen a Pine 

 tree like this one. What could it be? Was it new? And had I 

 at last found something to reward me for my journey to the far- 

 north ? I went up to the spot where two of these trees were standing 

 like sentinels, one on each side of a grave. They were both covered 

 with cones, and therefore were in a fit state for a critical examination 

 of the species. But although almost unknown in Europe, the species 

 is not new. It proved to be one already known under the name of 

 Pinus Bunyeana. ' ' 



Pinus Bungeana is named after Alexander von Bunge, a Russian 

 botanist who accompanied Ledebour in his travels through Siberia, 

 and who was afterwards (1830) sent by the Russian Government as 

 naturalist with a mission to Peking, where he first met with this Pine 

 and many other plants not previously known to Europeans. He 

 subsequently (1836) succeeded Ledebour as Professor of Botany and 

 Director of the Botanic Garden at Dorpat. 



Pinus Cembra. 



A large tree of variable height and habit according to altitude and' 

 exposure, at its greatest development on the Swiss Alps attaining an 

 average height of 60 70 feet, individual trees occasionally 20 feet 

 higher. Primary branches spreading but turned upwards at the tip ; 

 in some localities, as on the Riffelberg, the lowermost branches sometimes 

 attaining great dimensions, at first horizontal with a downward curvature 



