336 WEEDS AND USEFUL PLANTS. 



Trunk 50-100 feet high, with a thick, coarse, deeply-furrowed bark. Leaves 6-10 

 inches long, light green. Cones 2-5 inches long. 

 Virginia and southward. 



Ob". A much more abundant and less valuable tree than the next ; 

 its wood containing much less resin. According to Elliott, " its seed 

 is dispersed so easily and so universally over the country, that all lands 

 which are thrown out of cultivation are immediately covered with this 

 tree." 



6. P. pains 'tris, L. Leaves fasciculate in threes, very long ; scales of 

 the branches pinnatifid, portions of them persistent ; strobiles elongat- 

 ed, conoid, the scales armed with small recurved spines. 



MAKSH PINUS. Yellow Pine (of the South). Long-leaved Pine. 



Stem 80-100 feet high, and 2-3 or 4 feet in diameter, with a smoothish bark the 

 branches rough with the persistent remains of the stipules (stipules ramentaceous). 

 Leaves 9-15 inches long. Strobiles 6-9 inches long. 



Sandy soils : Virginia to Florida. Fl April. Fr. August -September. 



Obs. This is a most important and valuable species. It yields the 

 firmest and most durable lumber, for house and ship building, of any of 

 the genus. The superior " heart-pine " boards, for flooring, &c., and the 

 string pieces for railroads (where a wooden superstructure is used), are 

 furnished by this tree. " From the sap of the living tree," says Mr. EL- 

 LIOTT, " most of the turpentine of commerce is obtained." Tar is pro- 

 cured by charring the wood and roots of this, and other species, by 

 a smothered fire, which melts the turpentine and mixes it with the sap 

 and juices of the wood. Pitch is the residuum, left by boiling tar until 

 the watery portion is driven off. The ground where this tree prevails, 

 becomes tnickly covered by the long leaves which the Southern people 

 call straw. 



* * Leaves in Jives : bark smooth : scales of the cones neither thickened nor 

 prickly-pointed at the end. 



7. P. Stro'bus, L. Leaves scarcely sheathed at base, long and slender ; 

 strobiles oblong, sub-cylindric, nodding. 



White Pine. Weymouth Pine. New England Pine. 



Stem 60 or 80-120 feet or more in height, and 2-4 or 5 feet in diameter, straight and 

 with a smooth bark especially while young ; branches verticillate, slender, rather few 

 and those near the summit when the trees are crowded. Leaves 3-5 or 6 inches long, 

 linear, bluish or glaucous-green. Strobile 3-5 inches long, somewhat curved ; scales 

 cuneate-obovate. 



Rich soils, bottom lands, along streams, &c.: Canada to Virginia. FL May. Fr. Aug. - 

 September. 



Obs. This is also a most valuable tree, furnishing an immense amount 

 of lumber, in the form of boards and scantling, and, of late years 

 since the Cypress has become somewhat scarce and dear it is exten- 

 sively wrought into shingles. Being fine-grained, and comparatively 

 free from turpentine, the White Pine is much used for the interior wood- 

 work of houses except floors, for which purpose it is rather soft. 



