140 FAMILIAR TREES 



become gradually reddish from their apices down- 

 wards before reaching maturity. The seed is larger 

 than in any other European Pine, and it has a 

 hard stony " testa," or envelope, which gives the 

 tree the name of Stone Pine ; whilst its hatchet- 

 shaped wing is so small as to appear to be a 

 merely " vestigial " structure, useless, that is, for 

 that purpose of seed-dispersal for . which this 

 structure has presumably been evolved in allied 

 forms. The entire cone is much lighter in colour 

 than those of the Cluster Pine, and the " apophyses,'"' 

 or " tessellse," differ in having keel-like ribs proceed- 

 ing from each of their four-rounded angles, instead 

 of the one diagonal keel in those of that species. 

 In the centre of each tessella is a greyish rhom- 

 boidal depression, from the centre of which rises 

 the broad, blunt prickle. 



Young plants of the Stone Pine exhibit a pe- 

 culiarity not noticed in other species of the genus. 

 After branching has begun, and some of the dwarf 

 shoots with paired needles have been produced, the 

 plant puts forth long slender twigs bearing single, 

 i.e. not paired, needles, without scale - leaves or 

 "basal sheaths," half the length of those of the 

 typical adult foliage, and of a bluish-grey-green. 

 Later on, shoots bear these so-called " primordial " 

 or " protomorphic " leaves mixed with the ordinary 

 dwarf shoots ; and then the former cease to appear. 



The Stone Pine may perhaps be a native of 

 China, where it is plentiful, as in the South of 

 Europe it is seldom seen in situations far removed 

 from habitations. It occurs in the South of France 



