346 PINUS MONTEZUJVL*;. 



latitude, where it has a vertical range of 4,000 12,000 feet elevation. 

 To the different conditions of climate and environment under which 

 it occurs throughout this region may unquestionably be assigned that 

 variability in aspect, in the length and colour of the leaves and in 

 the size and shape of the cones to which it is subject, and which 

 has been so fruitful in the multiplication of the specific names 

 given to it. Of these names the synonyms quoted above are still 

 in use, but they unfortunately form but a small portion of the 

 number that were at one time thrust upon botanists and cultivators 

 of coniferous trees, most of which are now properly well-nigh 

 forgotten. As seen on the slopes and mountain tops of the Sierra 

 Madre near its northern limit where it is very abundant, 

 P. Montczumce is a valuable timber tree with a trunk 40 to 50 feet 

 high and 12 to 18 inches in diameter ; further south and at lower 

 altitudes it exceeds these dimensions, but the wood is said to be 

 inferior in quality. 



Pinus Montezumce was originally discovered near the city of Mexico in the 

 beginning of the nineteenth century by Humbolilt and Bonpland, who, how- 

 ever, mistook it for the P. occidentalis of Swartz, a species inhabiting the 

 mountains of San Domingo and Cuba. It was afterwards seen by Schiede 

 and other botanical explorers in Mexico, but it was not introduced till 

 1839, when the Horticultural Society of London received seeds from 

 their collector, Hartweg, and plants were subsequently distributed 

 among the Fellows of the Society. The belief at first entertained 

 that so beautiful and distinct a Pine would prove hardy in many 

 parts of Great Britain has not been realised. The oldest specimens 

 that still remain in the west and south-west of England show, 

 with very few exceptions, a constant struggle with climate for 

 existence. The two trees shown in the illustration were, at the date 

 of publication of this Manual, in faultless health and vigour; the 

 older one is in the grounds of the Eight Hon. A. H. Smith Barry 

 nt Fota Island near Cork, and the younger at Castlewellan, Co. Down, 

 the seat of the Earl of Annesley.* The species commemorates the 

 last unfortunate monarch of the Aztecs of Mexico who lost his life in 

 <i revolt of his subjects against the Spanish domination, A D. 1520. 



Although the leaves of Pinus Montezumce are in bundles of five, 

 the species is not included in either of the sections Strobi or CembrcB 

 in consequence of the scales of the cone having a distinct apophysis 

 with a central umbo, and the leaves not being slender and flaccid 

 but rigid and spreading. It thence comes under Eiidliclier's section, 

 Pseudo-Strolus, which includes other Mexican Pines that have been 

 introduced into Great Britain but have proved quite unsuitable for the 

 climate. Among these the three following may stiU be lingering on 

 in sheltered spots in Devon and Cornwall. 



* Several trees of Pinus Montezumce in a more or less thriving condition are standing in 

 the Pinetmn of the Hon. Mark Rolle at Bicton in south Devon (under different names). 

 There are others at Menabilly, Cornwall ; Strete Ralegh, near Exeter ; Kitley, near 

 Plymouth ; Eastnor Castle, Ledbury ; Highnam Court, Gloucester ; Essendon, Hatneld, 

 and probably other places. 



