245. PlNUS QUADRIFOLIA PARRY PlNE. 45 



which are acute, ovoid, somewhat flattened one side, nearly \ in. in length with 

 hard thick dark brown coat, and thin wing only about fa in. wide which remains 

 attached to the scale when the seed falls, cotyledons 7-9. 



The specific name, albicaulis, is from two Latin words, albus, white, and 

 caulis, stem, alluding to the white bark. 



The White-bark Pine, growing as it does only high up on the 

 mountains, rarely attains a greater height than 50 or 60 ft. (15 m.), 

 though its trunk may attain a diameter of 3 or 4 ft (1 m.). When on 

 exposed ridges it becomes very much depressed and distorted by the 

 winds, and at timber line it may be found as a shrub closely matting 

 to the ground. The bark of trunk is thin, generally from 1 to J in. 

 in thickness, of a light brown color or even almost white. Becoming 

 fissured irregularly with age it exfoliates in irregular thin scales and 

 reveals a purplish brown color beneath. 



HABITAT. The high Rocky Mountain slopes of British Columbia 

 from as far north as 53 latitude, southward to northwestern Wyoming, 

 at from five to twelve thousand feet altitude, and generally at the 

 timber line. It is also found on the high mountains of Washington, 

 Oregon, and northern California, the Sierra Nevada and San Bernardino 

 mountains, where it forms the timber line at an altitude of* nearly 

 twelve thousand feel. 



PHYSICAL PROPERTIES. Wood light, soft, brittle, easily worked, 

 with many small resin passages, and of a pale brown color with lighter 

 sap-wood. Specific Gravity, 0.4165; Percentage of Ash, 0.27; 

 Relative Approximate Fuel Value, 0.4154; Coefficient of Elasticity, 

 38 147; Modulus of Rupture, 581; Resistance to Longitudinal Pres- 

 sure, 331; Resistance to Indentation, 107; Weight of a Cubic Foot 

 in Pounds, 25.96. 



USES. Owing to inaccessibility and inconvenient dimensions of trunk 

 these trees are not often manufactured into lumber or put to other 

 uses. The seeds are said to serve as an article of food for the Indians, 

 and are eagerly eaten by the Clark crow and jays, which make their 

 homes in the high mountains where this tree abounds. 



245. PINUS QUADRIFOLIA, PARL.* 

 PARRY PINE. MEXICAN NUT PINE OR PINON. 



Ger., Vierbldtterige Fichte ; Fr., Pin quadrifeuillier Sp., Pino 



de quatro hojas. 



SPECIFIC CHARACTERS: Leaves 1-1 in. long, usually in fascicles of four each 

 (sometimes 3 or 5), with short sheath of reflexed scales at the bases the first sea- 

 son, incurved, with sharp callous tips, entire, pale glaucous green, containing 

 two large dorsal resin ducts, and bearing on the ventral sides 8-10 rows of 



*Pinus Parryana, Engelm. 



