498 Mr. David Douglas o« a new Species 



Pines which clothe the face of North-west America, but like 

 Finus resinosa, which grows among them, they are scattered 

 singly over the plains, and may be considered to form a sort of 

 connectinir link between the doomv forests of the north and 

 the more tropical-like verdure of California. 



The trunk grows from 150 to above 200 feet in height, vary- 

 ino- from 20 to near 60 feet in circumference. One specimen, 

 Avhich had been blown down by the wind, — and this was certainly 

 not the largest which I saw, — was of the following dimensions. 

 — Its entire length was 215 feet; its circumference three feet 

 from the ground was 5? feet 9 inches ; and at 134 feet from the 

 «round, 17 feet 5 inches. The trunk is unusually straight, and 

 destitute of branches about two-thirds of the height ; the bark is 

 uncommonly smooth for such large timber, of a light-brown 

 colour on the south, and bleached on the north side. The 

 branches are rather pendulous, and form an open pyramidal 

 head, with that appearance which is pecidiar to the Abies tribe. 

 'J he leaves are between 4 and 5 inches long, and grow in fives, 

 with a short sheath like those of Pinus Sirubiis ; they are rigid, 

 of a bright-green colour, but not glossy, and from minute den- 

 ticulations of the margin are scabrous to the touch. The cones 

 are pendulous from the extremities of the branches ; they are 

 two years in acquiring their full growth, are at first upright, and 

 do not begin to droop I believe till the second year : when 

 young they have a very taper figure ; when ripe they are about 



1 1 inches in circumference at the thickest part, and vary from 



12 to 1() inches in length. The scales are lax, rounded at the 

 npex, and perfectly destitute of spines. The seeds are large, 

 8 lines long and 4 broad, oval ; and, like that of Pinus Pinea, 

 their kernel is sweet and very pleasant to the taste. The wing 

 is membranous, of a dolabriform figure and fuliginous colour, 



about 



