CHAP. CX 



III. 



CONI'FER/E. PMNUS. 



2193 



jecting from each, which is generally straight. Leaves from 1* in. to 2J in. 



long. Sheaths with 3 or 4 rings. Seeds small, cotyledons 6 to 8. 



Young shoots covered with a fine purplish glaucous bloom. 



Description. A tortuous-branched 

 low tree, having, at a distance, the 

 general appearance of P. Banks/ft ;/; 

 but differing from that species in 

 having many of the more slender 

 branches pendulous, and the wood 

 of the shoots of the current year 

 conspicuously glaucous and tinged 

 with violet ; a character which, as 

 Michaux observes, is peculiar to 

 this species and to P. mitis; and 

 the trunk and larger branches pro- 

 ducing small tufts of leaves, or abor- 

 tive shoots. According to Michaux, 

 it grows, in North America, from 

 30 ft. to 40 ft. in height, with a dark- 

 coloured trunk, and the branches 

 proceeding from it, not in whorls, 

 but irregularly, more in the manner 

 of broad-leaved trees than is usual 

 with the ^bietinoe. The bark, in old 

 trees, is deeply cracked ; and through 

 the fissures resin exudes in such 

 abundance, as to give the trunk 

 and branches the appearance of be- 

 ing candied over with sugar. The 

 leaves are of a dark green, and scat- 

 tered equally over the branches, in the manner of P. BankszVzna ; but they 

 are not so persistent, nor so glaucous, as in that species. The cones, Michaux 

 describes as about 2m. long, and 1 in. in diameter at the base: they are 

 attached by short thick peduncles, and are armed with long fine awl-shaped 

 spines ; they are usually single* and turned more or less towards the 

 ground. In the neighbourhood of New York, in 

 lat. 41, the flowers appear in the beginning of 

 May ; the cones are mature in the November of 

 the second year; and the seed drops out the fol- 

 lowing spring. The trees of this species in the 

 pinetum at Dropmore agree very well with Mi- 

 chaux's description ; but they are not yet suffi- 

 ciently old, or, perhaps, our summers are not 

 sufficiently warm, to cause an exudation of resin 

 to the extent mentioned by that author. The 

 buds, however, are resinous ; and this matter very 

 readily exudes, and incrusts the surface of the sec- 

 tions wherever a branch is cut off. At Dropmore, 

 in warm weather during sunshine, the fragrance 

 of the air in the neighbourhood of this tree is de- 

 lightfully balsamic. 



Geography, History, $c. The Jersey pine in- 

 habits the interior of North America, chiefly south 

 of latitude 45 ; and, according to Pursh, it is 

 found from New Jersey to Carolina, on dry 

 barren soils. Michaux states that it abounds in 

 the lower parts of New Jersey, where the soil is meagre and sandy, and 

 where it is often accompanied by the yellow pine (P.mitis); and that 

 it is also found in Maryland, Virginia, and Kentucky ; in Pennsylvania, 



7 c 2 



2070 



