THE COULTER PINE 



Pinus Coulteri LAMBERT. 



BARK Dark or blackish-brown, broken into wide 



longitudinal fissures, ridges scaly. 

 LEAVES 3 in a bundle, 6% to 12 inches long, deep 



bluish or yellowish-green, stiff. 

 CONE Extremely heavy, 10 to 14 inches long, spinous 



processes of scales thick and spurlike. Seeds 



winged. 



This magnificent species of pine was 

 discovered by Dr. John Merle Coulter, 

 the distinguished American botanist, on 

 the mountains of Santa Lucia near the 

 Mission of San Antonio. It goes by the 

 name of Big Cone Pine bearing the larg- 

 est cone of all its family. When mature 

 the cone is as large as a big pineapple 

 and attains a weight of four to eight 

 pounds. Foolish is the man who chooses 

 the shelter of a Coulter pine for a bed 

 site or napping spot. Should some feast- 

 ing squirrel or a gust of wind set loose 

 one of these big gummy cones and let it 

 come crashing to the ground, the conse- 

 quences would be serious or perhaps 

 fatal if the cone struck the napper on 



19 



