PINE. 205 



PittUS divaricata. (P. bankszana.} Jack Pine. Nor- 

 thern Scrub Pine. Gray Pine. 



Leaves in twos, short, from three-quarters to one and one- 

 half inches long, acute, rigid, thick, more or less curved and 

 twisted, falling the second or third season; inner side channeled; 

 margins very minutely serrate, sheaths short; buds very resinous. 

 Cones ovoid acuminate, about two inches long, often curved, 

 laterally located on branchlets, often in pairs. They are gen- 

 erally opened by the sun, but where they are in the shade they 

 will remain on the trees unopened for several years until they 

 become deeply covered with moss and sometimes until over- 

 grown and imbedded in the wood and bark. The seeds are 

 about one-eighth of an inch long, with four to five cotyledons. 

 Those from the old cones seem to grow as readily as fresh seeds 

 when sown. A very pronounced peculiarity of this tree is its 

 habit of forming several* whorls of branches on the new growth. 

 This is especially noticeable when the trees are young and grow- 

 ing rapidly, when as many as six whorls of branches may be seen 

 on a year's growth. This tree, under favorable conditions, will 

 occasionally attain a height of 125 feet and a diameter of two 

 feet. However it is seldom over seventy feet high and eight to 

 twelve inches in diameter, and generally where it occurs in pine 

 forests it is only forty or fifty feet high. 



Distribution. It is distributed from northern New England 

 and the valley of the St. Lawrence westward along our northern 

 frontier to the Rocky Mountains and north to the Arctic circle; 

 found growing in sandy land and land that has been recently 

 severely burned. It covers large areas of poor, sandy lands in 

 Minnesota. In this state it probably has about the same range 

 as Norway Pine. 



Propagation. By seeds. The cones may be obtained at any 

 season of the year and kept out of doors until spring, when they 

 can be opened by the application of a little heat. The seeds from 

 the old cones seem to have as much vitality as those from young 

 cones. In the woods the cones of Jack Pine often remain closed 

 until a fire sweeping over the land causes them to open, and 

 allows the seeds to fall in the loose ashes, where they soon start 

 into growth. On account of this peculiarity it is sometimes 

 called the Fire Pine. The seedlings are very hardy, and grow 



