rixus PUXGEXS. 3*67 



Firms pungens, 



A medium-sized or low tree 25 40 or more feet high, with stout, 

 horizontal branches and a broad, open, flat-topped head. In Great 

 Britain much resembling the Scots Pine in its young state, but when 

 old more open and spreading. Bark of trunk deeply fissured into 

 irregular plates. Branches of very unequal length, the longest sometimes 

 exceeding 20 feet. Branchlets slender, ridged and furrow.ed by 

 cortical outgrowths, obliquely decurrent from the pulvini of the leaf 

 fascicles. Buds cylindric, obtuse, about 0*75 inch long, light chestnut- 

 brown, usually covered with a film of whitish resin. Leaves geminate, 

 persistent three four years, rigid, straight or slightly curved towards the 

 axis, 1*75 2 '5 inches long, dark dull green on the convex side, with 

 about six greyish lines on the flat side ; basal sheath short with 

 numerous rings and lacerated margin.' 55 ' Staminate flowers in a lax 

 spike, cylindric, obtuse, about 0'3 inch long, orange-brown, surrounded at 

 the base by seven nine involucral bracts. Cones ovoid or turbinate, 

 , usually in whorls of three five, horizontal, most developed on the 

 exposed upper side, 3*5 inches long, and 2*25 inches in diameter at the 

 broadest part, persistent on the tree many years ; scales oblong-cuneate, 

 with a broadly pyramidal apophysis terminating in a sharp incurved prickle. 



Pinus pungens, Michaux, Hist. Arb. Amer. I. 61, t 5 (1810). Lambert, (4enus 

 Pinus, ed. II. Vol. I. t. 17 (1828). London, Arb. et Frut. Brit. IV. 2197, with tigs. 

 Forbes, Pinet. Woburn, 17, t 5. Endlicher, Synops. Conif. 166. Carriere, Traite 

 Conif. ed. II. 470. Parlatore, D. C. Prodr. XVI. 379. Hoopes, Evergreens, 98. 

 Gordon, Pinet. ed. II. 254. Beissner, Nadelholzk. 214, with lig Masters in 

 Journ. R. Hort. Soc. XIV 23. Sargent, Silva X. Amer. XL 135, t. 584, 



Eng. and Amer. Table Mountain Pine, Hickory Pine. Germ. Stechende Kiefer. 



Pinus pungens inhabits chiefly the Appalachian mountains of the 

 Eastern States. From its southern limit in North Carolina it 

 spreads northwards along the dry slopes and ridges of the mountains 

 through Virginia into Pennsylvania as far as the Schuylkil river 

 and westwards into Tennessee, forming in places extensive forests. 

 Small isolated patches are also reported from distant parts of 

 Virginia, eastern Pennsylvania, and liosemount in New Jersey. 



On the precipices, impending rocks and chasms of the Linville, a 

 branch of the Catawba river in North Carolina, Pinus pungens darkens 

 the whole horizon and presents an imposing mass of monotonous 

 verdure. It generally occupies the summits of the highest rocky ridges 

 and sweeps over the most dangerous and inaccessible declivities, some 

 of which are at least 1,000 feet in perpendicular height. In this 

 picturesque region it was originally discovered by Michaux more than 

 a century ago. 



The economic value of Pinus pungens is unimportant; the wood is 

 light, soft, coarse-grained and not strong, and is used in America 

 chiefly for the manufacture of charcoal. It was introduced into Great 

 Britain about the year 1804 ; it is now but rarely seen ; the few 

 old trees that still remain are unattractive objects of irregular outline 

 and mostly one-sided from contact with other trees. 



* The above description from materials communicated by Mr. Marcus Dimsdale from 

 Essendon House, near Hatfield ; in the grounds stands one of the largest Pinus pungens in 

 the country. Other aged specimens are in the Pineta at Bicton, Dropmore and Baytbrdbury. 



