4 BULLETIN 460, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



resin of the heavy, more resinous-wooded pines. All of the pines 

 yield resin in greater or less quantities, but so far the commercial 

 qualities of only a few of these resins have been determined. In 

 recent years the wood of pine stumps and old logs is also being dis- 

 tilled for turpentine, this product being known as wood turpentine. 



Some 70 species of pines are known in the world. Thirty-six of 

 them inhabit the United States, 14 of which occur in the Rocky Moun- 

 tain region. Six of these Rocky Mountain species occur also in the 

 Pacific slope region, and one ranges eastward from the Rockies in 

 Canada into the Atlantic coast county. 



Pines are of ancient origin, some of them having existed in North 

 America and Europe in the Cretaceous and Miocene periods. 



WHITE PINES. 



Trees with light, soft ivood in which the early and late formed portions of the 

 annual rings are not sharply defined. 



WESTERN WHITE PINE. 



Finns monticola Douglas. 



COMMON NAME AND EAKLY HISTORY. 



Pinus monticola is now properly known as western white pine. 

 It is hoped that this name may be widely accepted in order to avoid 

 confusing Pinus monticola with its eastern relative, Pimm strobus. 

 For a number of years it was known to w estern lumbermen and manu- 

 facturers as " Idaho white pine " and " Montana white pine," because 

 the commercial supply of lumber came from forests in northern Idaho 

 and northwestern Montana. It is also called " white pine," probably 

 on account of the similarity of its wood to the well-known white 

 pine (Pinus strobus) of northeastern United States and adjacent 

 Canadian territory. The book names " silver pine," referring to the 

 silvery-green hue of the foliage, and " mountain Weymouth pine." 

 based partly on the tree's technical name and partly on an English 

 name for Pinus strobus, are not in current use. 



Western white pine was discovered by that redoubtable Scotch ex- 

 plorer of our Northwest, David Douglas, who found it in 1831 near 

 the Columbia River, whether in Oregon or Washington is unknown, 

 but probably in Washington. The tree was technically described and 

 named for the first time in 1837. The name then given to it, Pinus 

 monticola, has been generally maintained and there has been little 

 or no confusion of the western white pine with other white pines of 

 its range. Because of its general resemblance to the eastern white 

 pine (Pinus strobus), Nuttall described it in 1849 as a variety (Pinvs 

 strobus @ monticola) of this species, from which, however, it is dis- 

 tinct. In 1888 and 1895 Dr. J. G. Lemmon distinguished two varie- 



