324 PINUS CONTOKTA. 



pseudo-whorls of three, elongate-ovoid, more or less decurved, 



2 2'5 inches long; scales with a thick rhomboidal apophysis marked 



with a transverse ridge, from the centre of which protrudes an 

 awl-shaped prickle about 0*25 inch long. 



Finns contorta, Douglas ex London, Arb. et Frnt. Brit. IV. 2292 (1838). 

 Carriere, Traite Conif. ed. II. 474. Parlatore, D. C. Prodi-. XVI. 381. Gordon, 

 Pinet. ed. II. 232. Engelmann in Brewer and Watson's Bot. Califor. II. 126, 

 Macouu, Cat. Canad. Plants, 466. Beissner, Nadelholzk. 219. Masters in Gard. 

 Chron. XIX. (1883), p. 45, with tig. ; and in Jonrn. R. Hort. Soc. XIV. 227. 

 Sargent, Silv.a N. Amer. XL 89, t. 567. 



P. Boursieri, Carriere, Revue Hort. (1854), p. 223. Van Houtte's Flore des- 

 Serres, IX. 200, with fig. 



P. Bolanderi, Parlatore, D. C. Prodr. XVI. 379 (1868). 



Amer. Oregon _ Scrub Pine. The var. Murrayana : Lodge-pole or Tamarack 

 Pine. 



var. Murrayana. 



A much taller tree with a straighter trunk, usually 70 80 but not 



infrequently 100. 150 feet high and 4 6 feet in diameter, with thin, 



scaly, greyish bark, a conical head, longer leaves, and larger and more 

 deciduous cones. 



P. contorta Murrayana, Engelmann in Brewer and Watson's Bot. Califor. II. 126. 

 P. Murrayana, Balfour, Rep. Oregon Exped. 2, t. 3 (1863). 



Pinus contorta inhabits the sandy dunes and exposed promontories 

 of the Pacific coast from Mendocino northwards to Alaska. Spreading 

 inland it gradually assumes the form of var. Murrayana on the 

 Calif ornian Sierras and on the mountains of British Columbia, Wyoming, 

 and around the Yellowstone National Park, in places forming pure 

 forests of considerable extent ; its southern limit is on the San Jacinto 

 mountains in south California. 



As seen on the sandy dunes and sphagnum-covered bogs of the Pacific- 

 coast, Pinus contorta is a small scrubby tree with gnarled branches,, 

 narrow leaves, and oblique cones that are singularly variable on the 

 same tree, and which sometimes cover the tree so completely that 

 scarcely any foliage is visible, persisting and remaining closed for 

 many years. In places the trees are almost prostrate by the action 

 of the wind, and always when exposed to its force, have close-set 

 contorted branches and a dense foliage, affording effectual protection 

 from the wind on the land side to the more tender herbaceous- 

 plants. Inland it is greatly changed by its surroundings in different 

 localities, and becomes the tall pyramidal tree described above as var. 

 Murrayana. 



The economic value of the typical Pinus contorta is scarcely 

 appreciable, as the tree does not grow large enough to afford timber. 

 The wood of the inland larger tree is light, straight-grained and easily 

 worked, but not strong and durable ; it is largely used all over the 

 region where it is abundant for fuel, and in places for railway ties, 

 and out-of-door carpentry. It is comparatively a worthless Pine as- 

 regards its timber, but it is covering the lands in Colorado and on 

 the Rocky Mountains which have been cleared of better timber trees 

 by forest fires, and it is thence preserving the integrity of the mountain. 

 slopes and protecting the flow of mountain streams. 



