PINE TREES OP ROCKY MOUNTAIN REGION. 39 



The Pacific coast form of this species is commonly called " scrub 

 pine," because it is stunted, and sometimes " sand pine " and " shore 

 pine," owing to the fact that the tree grows on the sandy seashore. 

 The high-mountain form, however, particularly of the Rocky Moun- 

 tain region, is most widely known as lodgepole pine, a name which is 

 descriptive of the trunk form over most of the tree's great range and 

 therefore appropriate. " Tamarack," " spruce pine," and " Murray 

 pine " are local names also applied to the mountain form of this species. 



The high-mountain form of this tree is believed to have been dis- 

 covered by Lewis and Clark 1 in 1805 on mountains above the head- 

 waters of Jefferson River (in the present Absaroka National Forest), 

 western Montana, while the Pacific coast form is said to have been 

 discovered by David Douglas in 1825 near the mouth of the Colum- 

 bia River in Washington. The first technical name of this tree. 

 Pinus contorta Loudon, was published in 1838. The accompanying 

 description was based on the stunted Pacific coast form raised from 

 seed which David Douglas introduced into England in 1831. 2 The 

 high-mountain form of lodgepole pine was first described and named 

 "Pinus murrayana Oregon Committee " in 1853 and was found by 

 John Jeffrey in 1852 in the Siskiyou Mountains, northern California. 

 Ever since it was proposed to separate these two geographic forms of 

 lodgepole pine the botanical history has been exceedingly complicated 

 and includes the application by different authors of some 15 specific 

 and varietal names, together with several erroneous references of the 

 tree to other distinct species of two-leafed pines. Wide variation in 

 the size of the cones and in the leaves has, for the most part, been the 

 basis of confusion, which the present writer believes is best and prop- 

 erly cleared up by uniting all forms of the tree as one species. 3 



1 History of expedition under command of Lewis and Clark, ii, 457 (ed. Coues). It is 

 believed that the pine mentioned in the narrative of these explorers, " a small species 

 of pitch pine with a short leaf," could be no other than our lodgepole pine. 



2 Fide Sargent, Silva, XI, 93, 1897. 



3 The high-mountain form of lodgepole pine was introduced into cultivation in England 

 in 1853 and 1854 by John Jeffrey, who sent seeds from the California Sierras (fide Elwes 

 and Henry, op. cit., 1138, 1910). The Pacific coast form did not appear in cultivation 

 there until 1885, when it was catalogued by Lawson as " Pinus Mackintoshiana " 

 (Masters, Journ. Linn. Soc. (Bot.) XXXV, 647, 1904), although Douglas discovered the 

 tree in 1825. Both forms appear to be hardy in England, where P^iwes and Henry (1. c.) 

 mention trees ranging in height from 40 to 59 feet. One tree grown from seed of the 

 coast form attained a height of 28 feet in 20 years, while examples of the high-mountain 

 form reached a height of 30 feet in 25 years. Both forms of lodgepole pine are said to 

 be cultivated in Belgium ; and extensive trials of them for forest planting are being 

 conducted in Germany, where, however, this tree is reported to be affected somewhat by 

 frost when planted in moist situations. Prof. C. S. Sargent (Gard. and For. X, 471, 

 1897) states that trees from Colorado planted in the Arnold Arboretum, near Boston, 

 Mass., about 1877 have proved hardy in New England. The interior high-mountain form 

 of this species was extensively planted in forest stands at the Letchworth Park Forest 

 and Aboretum, in Wyoming County, N. Y., from 1912 to 1914, and so far the young 

 stock appears to be adapted to the soil and climate there. It is, however, too soon to 

 judge of its fitness and value as a forest tree for that region. For ornamental planting 

 lodgepole pine has little to commend it because of the open appearance of the crown 

 and its short, unattractive leaves. 



