PINUS LAMBERTIANA. 337 



mingled in small isolated groves with the Redwood, Pinus ponder osa 

 and Abies concolor, and towards its northern limit it is mixed with 

 Abies grandis, Thuia yigantca, and other coniferous trees. 



Pinus Lambertiana is the loftiest of all Pines ; its column-like, 

 perpendicular trunk towers in some places to a height of 300 feet, 

 thus rivalling the stature of the gigantic Sequoias with which it is in 

 places associated; the usual height, however, ranges from 120 to 

 250 feet. As seen at a distance on the western slopes of the Sierra 

 Xevada its aspect is that of a tall column " with a lanky contour 

 and sparse ramification, wanting the picturesqueness of P. ponderosa 

 and the bulk in proportion to height of a Sequoia,"* but when 

 approached nearer this unfavourable impression is modified by the 

 strikingly beautiful living cones which hang from the tips of the 

 branches, bending them by their weight, and which, in the sunshine, 

 sparkle like pendents of diamonds owing to the high refractive- power 

 of the resin that copiously exudes from them and hangs in drops from 

 the scales. 



The timber yielded by Pinus Lambertiana is of excellent quality ; the 

 wood is . solid, straight-grained, very fragrant and easily worked ; it does 

 not crack or warp, and is on that account much used for cabinet work 

 and indoor carpentry. The sap that exudes from the trunk when cut or 

 wounded thickens into a whitish substance with a' sugar-like flavour, 

 whence this tree has obtained the name of the Sugar Pine. The Indians 

 sometimes utilise the exuded substance for food, but it is not much 

 relished by the whites ; the seeds too are eaten by the Indians. On 

 account of its valuable timber the destruction of the Sugar Pine has 

 been rapid and often wanton, but by the recent enactment of sufficiently 

 stringent laws, it is now more or less secure against criminal waste. 

 Nevertheless seedlings and young trees are scarce 011 account of the seeds 

 being devoured in prodigious quantities by squirrels, parrots, crows, and 

 other animals. 



The Sugar Pine was discovered by David Douglas in south-west 

 Oregon in October 1826, and was introduced by him in the following 

 year. He had previously seen one of its large cones which had been 

 brought to him by an Indian, and this induced him to make an 

 excursion southwards for the express purpose of gathering cones and 

 seeds ; during the journey he suffered great hardships, arid Avhen 

 securing his first cones he was in danger of losing his life from the 

 hostility of the Indians. Pinus Lambertiana has now been a denizen of 

 the British Isles for more than seventy years; in the drier and colder 

 climate of this country it shows no indication of rivalling the gigantic 

 dimensions of its parents in western America ; its growth is slow and the 

 best specimens have for the most part an irregular outline caused by the 

 furcation of the trunk at an early age and by the unequal development 

 of the branches.! To ensure a good specimen of this noble tree it 

 should be planted in a situation sheltered from winds blowing from the 



* Sir J. D. Hooker in Gard. Chron. XXIII. (1885), p. 11. 



t The largest specimens of Pinus Lambertiana known to the author are : In England 

 fit Bayfordbury, Hertford ; Dropmore, Eastnor Castle, Elvaston Castle, Kenfield Hall, 

 Canterbury ; Tortworth Court, Revesby Abbey. In Scotland at Keir and Methven Castle, 

 Perthshire ; and at Poltalloch in Argyllshire. In Ireland at Woodstock Kilkenny ; and 

 Powersconrt, Wicklow. 



