CHAPTER V : THE PINES , 



Family Conifer/E 



Genus PINUS, Duham. | 



I 



Leaves evergreen, of two forms: primary, short, broad a1 | 



base, scattered; secondary, needle-like, in sheathed bundles. | 



Flowers monoecious, naked; staminate, clustered; pistillate, I 



lateral or subterminal, with spirally arranged scales; ovules, 2 on | 



each scale. Fruit, a woody cone, maturing m 2 or 3 years. j 



i 



" What the apple is among the fruits, what the oak is among 



broad-leaved trees of the temperate zone, the pines are among 



the conifers, excelling all other genera in this most important ' 

 family in number of species, in fields of distribution in extent of 

 area occupied, in usefulness and importance to the human race." 



B. E. Fernow. \ 



Six hundred species and varieties have been described and j 

 named in the genus Pinus. They are distributed in vast forests 



over the northern half of the globe, reaching into the tropics by 



following mountain chains. The East and West Indian Islands i 



have each their own pines. Out of the hundreds of named kinds I 



about eighty distinct species are now recognised. Half of this ! 



number are found in North America. Forests of pine still cover i 



mountain slopes in the western and northern parts of the conti- ' 



nent. Lumbering has been going on for a century in the Eastern I 



States; more recently the Great Lakes region and the pine forests ; 



of the Southern States have been exploited to supply the demand 1 



for pine. \ 



The foremost lumber trees in this country, pines have still j 



other important uses. They offer a great variety of trees for pro- i 



tective and ornamental planting. Windbreaks from the seashore ' 



to the semi-arid prairie, from the low seaboard plain to the i 

 mountain's crests, may all be of pine. Arid soil or rich, cold or 



warm climate, swamp and desert sand all offer congenial con- f 



ditions for some native pine. In the parks of cities, in private j 



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