18 FAMILIAR TREES 



feet in Spain, 2,500 to 3,000 feet in Albania, and 3,000 

 to 5,000 feet in Corsica to 4,000 to 6,000 feet on 

 .Mount Taurus and 4,000 to 6,500 feet on Etna. 



The Corsican Pine was first introduced into 

 England in 175!), and was described as a maritime 

 variety of the Scots Fir (Finns sylvestris rjmarit'ima) 

 by Aiton, in the first edition of the Hortus Kewensis, 

 in 1789. In the second edition he called it P. marit'- 

 ima, and, though it was named P. Laricio by Poiret 

 in 1804, that name was not adopted in England until 

 eighteen years later. The fine specimen near the 

 principal entrance to Kew Gardens was probably 

 planted before 1774, the date when the tree in the 

 Jardin des Plantes at Paris was planted, the species 

 having, at that time, attracted the attention of 

 Turgot's Ministry. The French Government had 

 great difficulty in obtaining seeds in Corsica, since 

 the cones were only produced in small numbers near 

 the summits of the lofty but doubtless thriving trees. 

 This led the dealers to adulterate the seed with that 

 of the Cluster Pine. In 1788, however, the Corsican 

 Pine was adopted for masts for the French navy. 

 Many trees were felled, and cones were thus pro- 

 cured in greater numbers. Between 1822 and 

 1830 this species was grafted on many thousand 

 stocks of P. sylvestris in the forest of Fontaine- 

 bleau. Poiret's specific name, Laricio, which is 

 sometimes rendered literally in English as " Larch 

 Pine," seems to be the Corsican name for the species. 



In 1793 or 1794 the great German traveller 

 Pallas sent seeds from the Crimea to Messrs. Lee 

 and Kennedy, of the Hammersmith Nursery, of 



