THE CORSICAN PINE 21 



some other species, the older shoots have their leaf- 

 bearing dwarf shoots in tufts alternating with bare 

 regions of stem. 



The female catkins or young cones are either 

 solitary or two or three together at the ends of the 

 shoots of the preceding year, springing from the axil 

 of a scale-leaf, as do the dwarf- shoots or leaf-spurs. 

 They are reddish in colour, egg-shaped, about half an 

 inch long, and borne on short stalks surrounded by 

 membranous scales. Their spirally-arranged bract- 

 scales are not prominent and, at an early stage, 

 coalesce with the " cone -scales," or " ovuliferous 

 scales," in their axils. Each of these last terminates 

 in a blunt, triangular point which persists as the 

 " umbo," or structural apex, of the mature cone-scale. 

 The cones become two or three inches long and 

 usually a little more than an inch in diameter above 

 the base, reaching their full size in the November of 

 the second year. When ripe they arc of a tawny 

 colour externally, polished and almost always curved 

 towards the summit. The "apophysis" is rhomboidal 

 with a transverse keel and a small central depression 

 ficin which rises the very small terminal prickle or 

 umbo already mentioned. When, in the April of 

 the third year, the cone-scales spread outwards to 

 liberate the now ripe seeds, they disclose a purplish 

 inner surface. The seeds are oval, grey, or mottled 

 with black, and twice as large as those of the Scots 

 Fir. They have a reddish-brown wing three or four 

 times as long as the seed and almost semi-elliptical in 

 outline, being straight on one side and rounded on 

 the other, and widening below the middle. This is, in 



