PIN US STROBUS. 377 



characteristics described above, which render it a decidedly picturesque 

 tree for the park and landscape, and for contrast with other trees it 

 is unrivalled among Pines.* 



The present condition of Pinus Salnniana is highly suggestive of its 

 past history and future destiny. Living in a climate singularly 

 favourable for arborescent vegetation, and amidst an environment of 

 lofty coniferous trees from 200 to 300 feet high, it fails, with rare 

 exceptions, to develop a single ascending stem like its congeners ; at 

 an early stage in its life its principal axis is forked or divided into 

 three or four ascending stems which seldom attain one-fourth of the 

 height of the species associated with it ; its foliage is unusually 

 sparse and lithe, and its large cones are almost of fossil-like consistency. 

 All these characteristics seem to point, on the one hand, to an ancestry 

 that must have originated in times antedating the first appearance of 

 that of most existing Pines, and on the other hand, to a state of 

 decadence foreshadowing its extinction. 



Pinus Strobus. 



A tall or medium-sized tree according to situation and environment ; 

 heights of 80 100 feet attained under favourable circumstances are frequent, 

 125 150 feet exceptional. In Great Britain trees 75- 90 feet high 

 are occasionally seen, but the average height in this country rarely 

 ranges above 60 70 feet. Trunk tapering, 3 4 feet in diameter near 

 the base, covered with greyish bark, smooth on young trees, rugged and 

 fissured on old ones. Branches in pseudo-whorls, the lowermost 

 disappearing as the tree advances in age, so that old trees are usually 

 free of branches for two-thirds or more of their height, and often have 

 a broad, rounded top. Branchlets slender, in whorls of three five, 

 ash-grey ; buds sub-conic, acute, 0'25 0'5 inch long, the perulre ovate- 

 lanceolate, narrowed into long, slender tips, chestnut-brown. Leaves 

 quinate, persistent two three years, slender, almost filiform, triquetral 

 with serrulate margins, 3 4 inches long, bluish green at a distance, 

 green on the convex side, marked with silvery stomatiferous lines 

 on the flat sides ; basal sheath short and deciduous. Staminate flowers 

 in rather lax spikes more than an inch long, ellipsoid, about 0'4 inch 

 long, yellow stained with pinkish purple, and surrounded at the base 

 by eleven thirteen involucral bracts in three series. Cones pendulous, 

 shortly pedunculate, cylindric, tapering to an obtuse apex, slightly curved, 

 5 6 inches long and 1 1'25 inch in diameter; scales obovate oblong, 

 with a small pointed umbo at the apex, pale brown on the exposed side. 



Pinus Strobus, Linnaeus, Sp. Plant. II. 1001 (1753). Miller, Diet. ed. VIII. 

 No. 13 (1768). Lambert, Genus Pinus, I. 31, t. 22 (1803). L. C. Richard, 

 Mem. sur les Conif. 60. Michaux, Hist. Arb. Amer. I. 103, t 10. London, 

 Arb. et Frut. Brit IV. 2280, with figs. Hooker, W. F1 - Bor - Amer. II. 161 

 (exclu. syn. P. monticola). Endlicher, Synops. Conif. 146. Carriere, Traite 

 Conif. ed. II. 398. Parlatore, D. C. Prodr. XVI. 405. Hoopes, Evergreens, 136, 

 with fig. Gordon, Pinet. ed. II. 322. Beissner, Nadelholzk. 288, with fig. 

 Masters in Journ. R. Hort. Soc. XIV. 240. Sargent, Silva N. Amer. XL 17, 

 tt. 538, 539. And many others. 



Eng. Weymouth Pine. Amer. White Pine. Germ. Strobe, Weymouths-Kiefer. 



* The largest specimens seen by the author are at Ledbury Park and Eastnor Castle, 

 Herefordshire ; Highnam Court and Tortworth Court, Gloucestershire ; Pampesford Hall, 

 Cambridge ; Orton Hall. Peterborough ; and in the Royal Gardens at Kew. 



