330 P1NUS FLEXILIS. 



Pinus excelsa first became known to science in 1802 through 

 Dr. Buchanan Hamilton, who mentions it in his "Account of Nepal" 

 under the name of P. Strobus ; some years later it was discovered by 

 Captain Webb in Bhotan and afterwards by Dr. Wallich in Nepal, by whom 

 its specific characters were determined and by whom it was introduced 

 about the year 1827. It has since occupied a foremost place, in 

 Great Britain among the ornamental Pines for the park and landscape, 

 and even for the lawn where sufficient space can be allowed for it, 

 which should never be less than a radius of from 25 to 35 feet from 

 the bole. P. excelsa may now be seen throughout the length and 

 breadth of the land, in the warmer and more humid districts rising to 

 a height of 60 to 75 feet, not infrequently feathered with branches 

 from the ground; in the drier midland and eastern counties not so 

 high but with a much greater spread of branches. The illustration 

 represents a fine specimen of which the lowermost branches cover more 

 than one-eighth of an acre of ground. 



Pinus flexilis. 



A medium-sized tree 40 50 feet high with a trunk 2 4 feet in 

 diameter. In Great Britain the largest specimens at present scarcely 

 exceed 25 feet in height and have straight tapering trunks covered 

 with pale brown bark. Branches horizontal or slightly curved upwards; 

 the branchlets whorled or lateral only, and often in flexed towards their 

 primaries. Buds ovate, acute, 0*5 inch long ; perulae broadly lanceolate 

 with ciliolate margins, reddish brown. Leaves persistent four five years, 

 quinate, somewhat distant and evenly distributed over the shoot, triquetral, 

 acute, 2 3'5 inches long, the younger leaves glaucous on the ventral 

 flat sides, the older ones of a uniform dark bluish green ; basal sheath 

 short and deciduous. Staminate flowers in short spikes, ellipsoid, 0'5 

 inch long, surrounded at the base by seven nine involucral bracts. 

 Cones ovoid-cylindric, obtuse, 3 5 inches long and 1'5 inch in 

 diameter; scales obovate oblong, the exposed part striated and terminating 

 in a rather sharp edge with a small umbo at the apex. Seeds nearly 

 0'5 inch long, of compressed ovoid shape with a narrow persistent 

 wins*. 



Pinus flexilis, James in Long's Exped. II. 34 (1823). Nuttall, Sylva, III. 107, 

 t. 112. Carriere, Traite Conif. ed. II. 39^. Parlatore, D. C. Prodr. XVI, 403. 

 Hoopes, Evergreens, 131, with fig. Gordon, Pinet. ed. II. 302. Murray in Gard. 

 Chron. IV. (1875), p. 356, with figs. Lawson, Pinet. Brit. I. 33, with figs. 

 Engelmann in Brewer and Watson's Bot. Califor. II. 124. Beissner, Nadelholzk. 273. 

 Masters in Journ. R. Hort. Soc. XIV. 229. Sargent, Silva N. Amer. XL 35, t. 546. 



An alpine tree distributed over the higher slopes of the mountain 

 system of western North America known under the general name of 

 Eocky Mountains ; it has a meridional range extending from western 

 Texas to Alberta and British Columbia with a lateral spread into eastern 

 California. Its vertical range is also very great, ascending to 10,000 

 feet on Pike's Peak and to 12,000 feet on the Sierra Nevada, but 

 rarely seen below 4,000 feet above sea-level. Throughout so extensive 

 a range some variability in size and habit is observable at different 

 altitudes and in different latitudes. 



