42 Illustrations of Conifers. 



PINUS NELSONI (Shaw). 



Gardeners' Chronicle, Series 8, Vol. XXXVI. p. 122 (1904), with fig. 

 Vol. XXXVII. p. 806 (1U05), with fig. 



Shaw, Pines of Mexico, p. 8 (1!)09), with figs. 



A small tree, rarely exceeding in Mexico 25 feet in height and 2 

 feet in girth. Bark grey, smooth. Branches long, slender and 

 supple, persisting in dense masses, so that the tree always has the 

 appearance of a large bush. Branchlets long and slender, glaucous 

 when young, with greyish-green and sparse foliage. 



Leaves with persistent sheaths, in fascicles of threes but adher- 

 ing together, so that at first sight there appears to be only one leaf 

 in each sheath, 2i to 3.^ inches long, serrate. 



Cones 3 to 5 inches long, on long stout curved stalks ; cylin- 

 drical, opening at maturity, remaining on the tree till the third 

 year ; leaving on the branch a few basal scales and the stalk 

 when they fall ; apophysis of the scale, deep orange red, elevated 

 in the middle as a sharp transverse ridge, and culminating in a dark 

 indefinite umbo. Seed large and wingless, pale ochre yellow when 

 fresh. 



This species occurs in great abundance over a limited area, and 

 associated with P. cembroides, on the lower slopes of the Sierras in 

 North-eastern Mexico. 



Pinus Nelsoni is easily distinguished from all the other pines by 

 its remarkable cones and the adherent leaves in the sheath, a 

 character that is reproduced on seedlings raised at the Arnold Ar- 

 boretum. The seeds are greedily eaten by macaws, and are exposed 

 for sale in the markets of Mexico. Seedlings were raised for the 

 first time in Europe at Bayfordbury in 1911. 



The illustration figured is a native specimen from Nuevo Leon 

 in the Herbarium at Kew. 



