48 HOUGH'S AMERICAN WOODS. 



trunk is rather thin and of a rich purple -brown color in general 

 appearance, but upon, closer examination it is found to be composed of 

 laminae of alternately purple and light-brown colors. It becomes 

 fissured with age into broad longitudinal and obliquely connecting 

 ridges and finally exfoliates in thin papery strips. 



HABITAT. The Western Juniper is found in eastern Washington 

 and Oregon, in Idaho and southward, near the summits of the 

 Cascade, Sierra Nevada and San Bernardino Mountains, rarely below 

 an altitude of 6,000 ft., and ascending to elevations nearly 10,000 ft. 

 above the sea, where upon exposed summits it withstands the force of 

 the fiercest gales. 



PHYSICAL PROPERTIES. Wood light, soft, very close-grained, 

 susceptible of a smooth polish, moderately odorous and very durable 

 in contact with the soil. It is of a rich pinkish-brown color, with 

 nearly white sap-wood. Specific Gravity, 0.5T65; Percentage of 

 Ash, 0.12; Relative Approximate Fuel Value, 0.5758; Resistance 

 to Indentation, 186; Weight of a Cubic foot in Pounds, 35.93. 



USES. A valuable wood for fencing and fuel, and the fruit is said 

 to be gathered and eaten by the Indians. 



MEDICINAL PROPERTIES of this species, we believe, have not been 

 studied, but probably would be found upon investigation to be similar 

 to those of other representatives of the genus and mentioned of the 

 J. Virginiana, Part I., pp. 75-76. 



GENUS PTNUS, TOURNEFORT. 



Leaves evergreen, needle-shaped, from slender buds, in clusters of 2-5 together, 

 each cluster invested at its base with a sheath of thin, membranous scales. Flowers 

 appearing in spring, monoecious. Sterile flowers in catkins, clustered at the base 

 of the shoots of the season; stamens numerous with very short filaments and a 

 scale-like connective; anther cells 2, opening lengthwise; pollen grains triple. 

 Fertile flowers in conical or cylindrical spikes cones consisting of imbricated, 

 carpellary scales, each in the axil of a persistent bract and bearing at its base 

 within a pair of inverted ovules. Fruit maturing in the autumn of the second 

 year, a cone formed of the imbricated carpellary scales, which are woody, often 

 thickened or awned at the apex, persistent, when ripe, dry and spreading to 

 liberate the two nut-like and usually winged seeds; cotyledons 3-12, linear. 



(Pinus is a Latin word from Celtic pin or pen, a crag.) 



169. PINUS COULTERI, DON. 

 BIG-CONE PINE, COULTER PINE. 



Ger., G roszfruchtige Fickte; Fr., Pin de cones grands; Sp., Pino 



de conos grandes. 



SPECIFIC CHARACTERS : Leaves in threes, large and stiff, mostly crowded at 

 the ends of the branchlets, 8-12 in. or more in length, serulate, with stomata 

 upon all sides, with membranous persistent sheaths at base at first 1 in. or 



