126 



CONIFER.E. Piinis. 



seeds dark brown, 4 lines loni,' ; winj^ 10 to 12 lines lonfj, widest above the middle : 

 cotyledons G to 9. — L(nid. Arbor, iv. 2l»4;5 ; ^^ewlH■^ry, 1. c. 30, t. 4; Parlat. 1. c. 

 395 ; Kngehn. Wheeler's b'ep. vi. LMil. P. JkidltamiaiM, llartw. Journ. llort. Soc. 

 ii. 189. 1\ JU'itnlsli'!/t iwA Craujaim, I^Iurr. Kdinb. iNew Thil. Journ. i. 28G. 



Var. Jeffrey!. A tree 100 to 200 i'eet liigli, with a more rounded top, more 

 finely cleft and darker bark, and paler leaves 4 to 9 inches lony : male llowers 1 \ 

 inches long: cones larger, 5 to 12 inches long, lighter brown, on short peduncles, 

 fewer in a cluster, with thinner apophyses, and slender prickles hooked backward : 

 seeds 4 to 7 lines long ; wings 12 or 13 lines hing : cotyledons 7 to 1 1. — P. Jtffreiji, 

 Murr. 1. c. xi. 224, t. 8, 9 ; Parlat. 1. c. 393. 



Var. scopulorum. A smaller tree (80 to 100 feet high) : leaves 3 to 6 inches 

 long, often m pairs : male flowers an inch long : c(Uies smaller, 2 or 3 (rarely 4) 

 inches long, grayish brown, with stout prickles : seeds 2i to 3^ lines long, the wings 

 9 to 12 lines : cotyledons G to 9. — P. ponJerosa of the'jtocky Mountain Horas. 



Tlie widest spread western piuc ; the oiigiiial fuiiii in Calitoniia and Oregon, at low and liigh 

 altitudes ami even in tlie plains, often associated witli /'. Lambert iana am\ Abies concolor ; the 

 var. Jeffroji usuallv on mountains above f),000 feet altitude, especially on the eastern slope of the 

 Sien-a Nevada, where it is apt to grow in the most aiid localities, ranging nito Oiegon. The 

 third form is found throughout the Kocky Mountains. A magnifieent tree, known throughout 

 the west as the "Yellow I'me," and wing with the Sugar Pine and Sefjuoias, with very thick 

 bark (in large trees 3 or 4 inches thick) and unusually thick sai)-wood, wliich slu.ws ]0(J to 200 

 annual rings before it becomes heart-wood. The latter is yellow, heavy and very icsiuous. The 

 var. JetFrcyi lias often been considered distinct, but connecting foinis are not rare ; one of these 

 is P. ilejlexa, Torr. Hot. Me.\. Hound. 2i.\[), i. f-C. The rows of stomata are olteii, but by no 

 means always, more distant in var. Jeffrci/i than in the tvi^ical form. The leav.s persist about 

 three years and are therefore always found brush-like at the end of the branchlets, e.xccpt in 

 vouii" shoots. The i.arenchvmatous duets (2 or 3 or more) of all the forms are generally very 

 small" and are always surrounded with .some (often many) strengthening cells, which are also 

 found within the shVath. P. Jqlrcyi is one of several si.ecics (/'. BaJfourinnn, P ^furrn!/mta, 

 Abies Pattoniana, etc.) which were collected by Mr. Jeffrey, and described by Prof. Balfour 

 anonymously (with iigures by Greville) in what is sometimes cited as the " Keport ol the Oregon 

 Committee." The authority for the specific names is given variously by dillereiit aiitliors ; lor- 

 tuuately most of them may be referred to other species. 



++++++ Leaves in jxiirs. 

 9. P. COntorta, Dougl. A low tree, 5 to 15 or rarrly 20 to 25 feet high and 

 G inches in diameter, with a rounded or depressed t<.p aiul thin smoothish bark: 

 leaves 1 to 1'; inches long by half a line wide, strongly an.l closely serrulate ; bracts 

 scarcely fringed : male flowers cylindrical, ^ inch long, in a spike 1 or 2 inches in 

 length"; the outer jiair of the 6 involucral bracts nearly as long as the inner ones; 

 anthers with semicircular crests : cones clustered, oval or subcylindric, very obli.pie, 

 with strong knol)3 and delicate prickles, or rarely almost without knobs, very otten 

 serotinous" (remaining closed for several or many ycar.s) : seeds black, grooved, 2 

 lines long ; wings G lines long, widest above the base, tapering upward : cotylclons 

 5, rarely"4. — I^oud. Arbor, ii. 2292, and Encyc. 975, lig. 915. F. inops, ]]ong. 

 Veg. Sitch. 45 ; Honk. Fl. P,or.-Am. ii. 101. P. Bolainln-i, Parlat. 1. c. 379. 



Var. Murrayana. Much taller and straighter, 80 to 120 feet high and 4 to G 

 feet in diameter, with a conical head and thin scaly light grayishhrown bark : 

 leaves 1 to 3 (mostly abont 2) inches long, f to 1 line wide, light green, delicately 

 serrulate; sheaths 4 to lines long, or old ones 1 to 1 J : male flowers with to 8 

 involucral bracts: cones very randy lateral, less obliipie, often oi)ening at maturity 

 and deciduous: wings of seeds longer. — 7\ cnntorta, Newberry, 1. c. 34, t. 5, and 

 of the Califoriiian botanists; Parlat. 1. c. 381, in part. P. h>nps, Penth. PI. Ilartw. 

 337. P. Murmyana, Murr. 1. c. 220. P. cnntorta, var. lalifolia, Engelm. m Pot. 

 King E.\-p. 331,' Porter's El. Colorado, 129, and Wheeler's Pep. vi. 202. 



Tlie original Douglasian P. conlorta, which came from the mouth of tlu^ Co1und)ia Kiver, is a 

 small narrow-leaved "tree of the wet sandy coast of the Pacific from Mendocino to Alaska, a dis- 

 tance of perhaps l,r)00 miles. Its narrow leaves, persistent and long-clo.sed very oblupie cones, 

 which cover the tree so that sometimes scarcely any foliage remains visible, well characterize it. 



