The Pines. 



321 



to great/perfection upon the slopes of the Sierras and the transverse 

 ranges that connect the Cascade and 

 Coast Ranges. It does not generally 

 form separate forests, but towers here 

 and there above other and more com- 

 mon kinds, with a symmetry and vigor 

 that has been admired by all travelers. 

 It grows to 300 feet in height and 20 

 feet in diameter, although the more 

 common sizes are 200 and 10 feet re- 

 spectively. The branches appear thin 

 and sparse, as compared with the 

 trunk. The leaves are of a dark blue- 

 green. The cones are from 12 to 18 

 inches long, and proportioned as in our 

 cut (p. 322). The lumber much resem- 

 bles the best of white pine. The resin- 

 ous exudation from partly-burned 

 trees has a sweetish taste, like manna, 155. Scale nod Seeds of the Sugar 



. . Pine of the natural size. 



and from this the tree derives its name. 



1308. The lumber is a favorite material for doors, sash, and 

 blinds, and for finishing-lumber generally. The species is named 

 from Aylrner Bourke Lambert, an English botanist, who died in 

 1842. He was the author of several works of merit, and among 

 them one on the pines. The last edition of the latter, in three 

 volumes, atlas folio (1828-37), ranks among the most costly and 

 elaborate botanical publications ever issued. His herbarium, which 

 was considered among the best of its kind in Europe, he bequeathed 

 to the British Museum. 



1309. THE FLEXIBLE PINE (Pinm flexilis). This is a middle- 

 sized tree, with warty horizontal branches, found growing in the 

 Rocky Mountains and from New Mexico to Washington Territory. 

 It is the prevailing pine east of the Humboldt Mountains, in Ne- 

 vada, and is frequent in the Wahsatch and Unita Mountains, from 

 6,500 to 11,000 feet above tide. It grows to a great age, and when 

 from 250 to 500 years old, becomes 2 to 3 feet in diameter, and 

 rarely over 50 feet in height. It is coarse, cross-grained, and too 

 knotty for good lumber. The wood is pliable, and from this quality 



