THE PINES 243 



pine, in open park-like areas, where each individual tree 

 has room to manifest the noble strength of its tall shaft. 



The flowers appear in May, brightening the even color 

 of the shiny leaves with their pink or brown staminate 

 clusters two or three inches wide. The crimson pistillate 

 cones hide at the ends of the branches, lengthening into 

 fruits three to ten inches in length, and half as wide. 

 Strong, re-curving tips, armed with slender prickles, are 

 seen in the scales of the reddish-brown cones that fall soon 

 after they spread and liberate the winged seeds. These are 

 produced in abundance, are scattered widely by the wind, 

 and accomplish the renewal of these mountain forests. 



The bark is usually very thick at the bases of the trunks, 

 reaching eighteen inches on the oldest trees. With this 

 cloak wrapped about its living cambium, the yellow pine 

 is able, better than most trees, to survive. a sweeping 

 forest fire. 



Botanists have found P. ponderosa extremely variable, 

 and they quarrel among themselves about species and 

 variety, for the tree endures many climates, adapts itself 

 to varying conditions and develops a type for each 

 habitat and region. In old lake basins on the Sierra 

 slopes, "variety Jeffreyi, Vasey," is the name given to the 

 gigantic yellow pine, which there finds food and moisture in 

 abundance and reaches its finest proportions and its 

 greatest lumber value. 



In the Rocky Mountains, "variety scopidorum, En- 

 gelm.," is the type. "But all its forms can be traced to a 

 common origin and so the parent species stands; and 

 despite man's devastating axe the yellow pine flourishes 

 in the drenching rains and fog of the northern coast at 

 the level of the sea, in the snow-laden blasts of the moun- 



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