332 PINUS HALEPENS1S. 



As seen in the Knram district, Pinus Gerardiana is a very handsome 

 tree that does not branch as Pines usually do, the trunk and branches 

 being more like those of a well-formed Oak. It is easily recognised 

 at a distance by its nearly white ash-grey bark which, on close 

 examination, is seen not to be of one colour but consists of patches 

 of all tints from light green to autumnal reds and browns ; this is 

 due to the peculiar way in which the bark falls off.* According 

 to Sir Dietrich Brandis, the timber is seldom used, and no part 

 of the tree is applied to any economic use to any extent, except 

 the edible seeds, large quantities of which are stored for winter use ; 

 these form a staple food of the inhabitants of Kunawar, being ground 

 and mixed with flour. An oil is extracted from them and used in 

 native medicines.! ' 



The date of the introduction of Pinus Gerardiana into Great Britain 

 is not accurately known. Cones were sent to England by Dr. Wallich and 

 others at different times, but apparently mixed with those of P. longifolia. 

 The first seedlings that proved to be true were raised by Messrs. 

 Lawson of Edinburgh and by Messrs. Low of Clapton, a short time 

 previous to the publication of London's " Arboretum," but which have 

 long since disappeared, as have most of the specimens in the south-west 

 of England mentioned in the former edition of this Manual. Seedlings 

 have been repeatedly raised in the Royal Gardens at Kew, but they 

 refuse to grow for any length of time. The finest existing tree in 

 the British Islands known to the author is in the grounds of Lord 

 Ardilaun at St. Anne's, Clontarf, near Dublin. The species com- 

 memorates its discoverer, Captain Gerard of the Bengal Native 

 Infantry, one of the earliest explorers of the north-west Himalaya. 



Pinus halepensis. 



A tree of variable height and habit, according to situation and 

 aspect; in the lower grounds in good soil attaining a height of 

 50 60 or more feet with a slender trunk, open head, and irregularly 

 disposed branches; the bark of the trunk usually smooth, greyish or 

 ash-coloured ; in Great Britain irregularly fissured, the fissures exposing 

 a reddish brown inner cortex. On the arid, rocky shores of the 

 Mediterranean Sea often in the form of a large spreading bush with 

 the branches sometimes curiously distorted by the wind. Branchlets 

 slender with the foliage clustered at the extremities; buds small, 

 conic-cylindric ; perulse deltoid, acuminate, with lacerated margins. 

 Leaves geminate, sometimes ternate, persistent about two years, filiform 

 with short callous tips, 2 '5 3 '5 inches long, dark green ; basal sheaths 

 whitish, about 0*5 inch long, but soon becoming corrugated and brown. 

 Staminate flowers in dense clusters of thirty forty or more, from 

 one-eighth to one-sixth of an inch long, reddish brown. Cones shortly 

 pedunculate, usually solitary but sometimes two three together, 

 cylindric-conic, 2 3 inches long, yellowish brown, often with a greyish 

 tinge ; scales broadly oval-oblong, abruptly cuneate at the base, the 

 apophysis rhomboidal with a transverse keel. Seeds small with a 

 lenticular wing. 



* Aitchison in Journal of the Liimean Society, XVIII. 97. 

 t Forest Flora of North-west India, 509. 



