350 PINUS MURICATA. 



Pinus monticola is spread over all the mountain ranges of 

 western North America lying between the 36th and 50th parallels 

 of north latitude from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific 

 Ocean. It attains its greatest size and is most abundant at 2,000 

 2,500 feet elevation around Lake Pend d'Oreille in north-west 

 Montana ; in British Columbia it is less abundant and generally 

 mixed with other coniferous trees ; on the Cascade range it 

 ascends to 5,000 feet, and on the Californiaii Sierras to nearly 

 10,000 feet. The wood is very light, soft, close- and straight-grained, 

 and is used for the same purposes as the White Pine of the eastern 

 States (P. Strains)* 



Pinus monticola was originally discovered by David Douglas in 1831, 

 and introduced by him shortly afterwards to the garden of the 

 Horticultural Society at Chiswick, but in extremely restricted numbers. 

 It was not generally distributed over Great Britain till a quarter of a 

 century later, when a large number of plants were raised from seeds 

 collected by Jeffrey, Lobb, Bridges and others, between 1851 and 1855. 

 It is perfectly hardy and well suited for this country, growing most 

 freely in the more humid climate of parts of Scotland and Ireland. 

 Exceptionally fine specimens are to be seen in Perthshire, notably 

 at Scone Palace (over 75 feet high), The Cairnies, Keir House, 

 Abercairney, near Crieff; and especially in the grounds of Murthly Castle 

 where it has been planted in considerable numbers, the tallest now over 

 80 feet high, but some of the trees have unfortunately become 

 infested with a destructive fungus which has necessitated the felling 

 of some of the finest specimens. t In Ireland there is a superb 

 specimen at Ham wood, Co. Meath, and one of smaller dimensions 

 at Woodstock, Kilkenny. In the drier climate of England P. monticola 

 grows more slowly, but many excellent specimens bear witness to 

 its usefulness as a lawn and park tree, notably those at- Orton Hall, 

 Peterborough ; Revesby Abbey, Boston ; Keufield Hall, Canterbury ; 

 Adhurst St. Mary, Petersfield ; and other places. 



Pinus muricata. 



A medium-sized tree of varying height, 25 50 or more feet with a 

 slender trunk 1 2 feet in diameter covered with reddish brown, 

 roughish bark which becomes very thick in trees protected from the 

 sea- wind. Branches spreading, in Great Britain usually of very unequal 

 development, irregularly ramified and often bent; branchlets mostly short 

 with pale brown bark roughened by the scars of the fallen leaf-fascicles. 

 Buds ovoid-conic or cylindric-conic, acute, 0'5 1 inch long, dark reddish 

 brown, often covered with a film of resin; the perulae lanceolate, acute 

 and closely imbricated. Leaves geminate, persistent two three years, 

 semi-terete, rigid, 3*5 5 inches long, the basal half of the young leaves 

 light yellow-green, the apical half grass-green, the whole of a uniform 

 dark green the second year ; basal sheath smooth, pale brown, 0'5 inch 



* Silva of North America, XI. 24. 

 t James Laurie in Gard. Chron. XXIII. ser. 3 (1898), p. 244. 



