Pinus Sylvestris 575 



noticed in France; and some years later, in 1881, was found in the forest of 

 Wandsburg in Prussia. 



Var. argeniea, Steven. Cones and leaves with a silvery tint. Found in the 

 Caucasus. 



Var. monophylla, Hodgins. A shrub, with the needles in each sheath attached 

 to each other throughout their length, apparently forming one needle, but easily 

 separated. Originated at Dunganstown, near Wicklow, about 1830. 



Var. microphylla, von Schwerin. Needles thin, sharply pointed, only \ inch 

 long. Originated as a seedling in 1883 at Wendisch-Wilmersdorf. 



Var. aurea} A low tree of dense habit, with leaves of a golden yellow colour 

 usually in spring, the foliage becoming green in summer. 



Var. variegata. Leaves variegated. This form has arisen several times in 

 cultivation ; but was once found wild in Prussia by Caspary. 



Var. pyramidalis. Fastigiate in habit. Schiibeler says that trees of this kind 

 are common in the forests of Norway and Finland. 



Var. pendula, Caspary.^ A weeping form, found in a wood near Tilsit, in East 

 Prussia. 



Various dwarf forms are known, as pumila, nana, globosa. 



Distribution 



The common pine has an extraordinarily wide distribution, occurring in regions 

 of the most diverse climates and on almost all soils, and in the mountains as well as 

 in the plains. It grows in Eastern Siberia, where the temperature falls to 40 Fahr., 

 and the period of vegetation hardly lasts for three months ; and is met with in Southern 

 Spain, where the summer heat reaches 95 Fahr., and the period of vegetation lasts 

 for nine months of the year. It occurs in dry regions like Provence, where there is 

 little humidity in the air, and in the west of Scotland, where the air is laden with 

 moisture all the year round. It is by preference a tree of siliceous soils, but occurs 

 on almost all geological formations ; and in Scotland, Norway, and Sweden grows on 

 peat-bogs too wet for the spruce to exist on. 



The area of distribution includes almost all Europe and the greater part of 

 Northern Asia. The northerly limit, commencing on the north-west coast of Norway 

 at Alten (70 N. lat.), passes through Lapland, south of the Enara lake (68 50'), and 

 touches Pasvig Fjord on the Arctic Sea at 69 30'. Extending through the Kola 

 peninsula from Kola bay, it crosses the White Sea at 66 45' and in the Petchora 

 territory goes as far north as 67 15' ; and crosses the Ural at about 64. In Siberia 

 it never reaches quite as far north as the Arctic circle, though it nearly touches it 

 on the Ob and the Yenisei rivers ; east of the Lena river it descends to about 64. 

 It reaches its extreme easterly point (about 150' E. long.) in the Werchojansk 

 Mountains. The eastern limit descends from there through the Stanovoi Mountains 



' There is a useful note on the propagation of this variety in Gard. Chron. xi. 405 (1S92). 

 * Schrift. Phys. Oekonom. Gesell. A'iinigsberg, 1 866, p. 49, fig. I. 



