PINASTEE, OR CLUSTER PINE. 439 



ever, it is further adapted by the nature and character of 

 its roots, which are less numerous, but more carrot-like in 

 form, and descend much deeper into the earth than those 

 of most other species of Pines, in which the roots are gene- 

 rally superficial and extend horizontally on every side, to 

 a great distance around the tree, and which, upon a surface 

 soil, gives that stability to them, which in the Pinaster, 

 upon deep sands, is effected by a few bulky tap-formed 

 roots, which descend deep into the stratum. This pecu- 

 liarity in the root of the Pinaster, possessed also by its 

 nearly-allied congener the Pinus Pinea, Stone Pine, is 

 adverse to its cultivation upon soils of inferior depth, or 

 where the substratum is hard or rocky, for upon such, in con- 

 sequence of its inability when young to protrude to a suffi- 

 cient depth a powerful root which may serve as a counter- 

 poise to the leverage of the plant above ground, it is acted 

 upon by the winds, becomes loosened in its socket, and 

 inclines to one side, whence it is that few Pinasters, 

 when planted upon such soils, are to be seen with a bole 

 perfectly straight and upright near to the ground, a cur- 

 vature being generally perceptible, even in trees of consi- 

 derable age and size. This want of lateral roots, also, 

 renders it liable, in districts subject to heavy storms of 

 wind, to be broken off close by the crown of the root, 

 Avhere we have sometimes observ- 

 ed a kind of imperfect junction 

 to exist between a portion of the 

 bole and the main root, as expres- 

 sed in the figure. At Twizell, 

 during the tremendous storm of 

 wind on the 9th of January, 1839, 

 a luxuriant Pinaster upon the 

 lawn, which, at about twenty-two 



