974 



ARBORETUM ET FRUTICETUM BRITANNICUM. 



1810. P. m'tis. 



1 15. P. MI Vis Michx. The soft-leaved, or yellow, Pine. 



Identification. Michx. Fl. Bor. Amer., 2. p. 204. ; N. Amer. Syl., 3. p. 120. 



Synonymcs. P. variabilis Pursh Fl. Amer. Sept. p. 643. ; ? P. echinata Mill. Diet. No. 12. ; New 

 York Pine, Spruce Pine, Short-leaved Pine, Yellow Pine, Amer. 



Engravings. Michx. N. Amer. Syl., 3. t. 137 ; our figs. 1812. from Dropmore, and 1813. from Mi- 

 chaux, to our usual scale; and figs. 1809, 1810, and 1811., of the natural size. 



Spec. Char., $c. Leaves long, slender ; hollowed on the upper surface. Cones 

 small, ovate-conical. Scales with their outer surface slightly prominent, and 

 terminating in a very small slender mucro, 

 pointing outwards. (Michx.) Buds, on a 



young tree (fig. 1809.), T 3 ^- in. long, 



and -^j-in. broad ; on an old tree, 



larger (fig. 1810.) ; scarcely resinous. 



Leaves (fig. 1811. from Michaux) 



from 2i in. to 4 in. long, with sheaths 



1 in. long ; white, lacerated, afterwards 

 becoming dark, slightly ringed. Cone 



2 in. long, and 1 in. broad in the widest 

 part. Seeds small; with the wing, 

 f in. long. Young shoots covered 



1809. with a violet-coloured glaucous bloom, 

 like those of P. mops, by which it is 

 readily distinguished from the P. variabilis 

 of Lambert. A beautiful tree, much valued 

 in America for its timber. New Eng- 

 land to Georgia, in most pine forests, in 

 various parts of the United States. Height 

 50 ft. to 60 ft. in America, and also in Eng- 

 land ; with a trunk of the uniform diameter of 15 or 18 inches, for nearly 

 two thirds of its length. Introduced in 1739. Flowers in May, and its 

 cones are ripened in November of the second year. 



The branches are spreading on the lower part of the trunk, but become less 

 divergent as they approach the head of the tree, where they are bent towards the 



body so as to form a summit regularly pyramidal ; 

 but not spacious in proportion to the dimensions 

 of the trunk. This narrow conical appearance 

 of the head, as compared with the spreading 

 character of those of other species, seems to 

 have given rise to the 

 name of spruce pine in 

 America. The leaves, 

 according to Michaux, 

 are 4 or 5 inches long, 

 fine and flexible, hol- 

 lowed on the upper 

 surface, of a dark green, 

 and united in pairs. 

 Sometimes, from luxu- 

 riancy of vegetation, 

 three leaves are found 

 in the same sheath on 

 young shoots, but never 

 on old branches. The 

 P. variabilis of Lam- 

 bert's Pinus, which is 

 made a synonyme of 

 this species by Pursh, 

 is unquestionably a to- 

 i8ii. P. muis. tally different plant from 



