Pinus 



1015 



similar to that of P. excelsa, but with a shorter broader wing, which has finer, 

 closer, and straighter longitudinal veins. 



Specimens from the Balkans, with shorter thinner leaves than those first 

 described from Mt. Peristeri, were distinguished by Dr. Christ as var. vermiculata ^ ; 

 but such trivial and inconstant differences scarcely deserve a varietal name. 



This species is closely allied to P. excelsa, but differs remarkably in the narrow 

 pyramidal habit seen both in cultivation and in Bulgaria, where, as Velenovsky 

 states, natural woods look exactly like plantations of Weymouth pine. It has 

 shorter stiffer leaves, more or less appressed to the branchlets, and not spreading or 

 bent as in P. excelsa. The green glabrous branchlets distinguish P. Peuke from all 

 other species of the Strobus and Cembra sections. 



Distribution 



This pine has a limited distribution, being confined to three small areas, 

 in Bulgaria, Macedonia, and Montenegro. The largest of these is on the 

 confines of Bulgaria and Macedonia, where the tree is known as Mura, and occurs 

 on the Rilo Mountains, on the Mussala Mountain in the Rhodope range, and in the 

 Perim range in Macedonia. Here it forms woods of considerable extent, which 

 extend low down into the valleys, where it is mixed with Pinus sylvestris, and ascend 

 up to the alpine zone, where it is associated with Pinus montana, var. mughus. Accord- 

 ing to Velenovsky,^ trees 100 years old are growing on the Rilo and Mussala Moun- 

 tains, which are 100 ft. in height and 5 to 7 ft. in girth. There are specimens in the 

 Kew herbarium, which were collected on the Rilo Mountains in June 1899 by Elwes. 



The second area of distribution is confined to Mt. Peristeri, above Monastir 

 (lat. 41°, long. 21°), where the species was first discovered in 1839 by Grisebach. 

 The small forest on this mountain, situated on granite soil between 2400 and 5800 

 ft. altitude, consisted of pines growing rather scattered amongst a dense undergrowth 

 of juniper, and of no great size, scarcely exceeding 40 ft. in height at the lower 

 levels, and becoming mere bushes, 4 ft. in height, at the higher elevations. 

 Orphanides rediscovered the tree on Mt. Peristeri in 1863, and records it as growing 

 between 3000 and 6000 ft. altitude. Halacsy^ is of opinion that its occurrence on 

 the mountains of northern Thessaly is probable, but as yet uncertain. 



The third locality is in Montenegro, close to the Albanian frontier, where the 

 tree is known as Molika, and occupies a narrow strip of territory, about 22 miles in 

 length, extending from west to east through the mountains, in which the river Lim 

 takes it origin. It is recorded from the high ridge between the valleys of the 

 Perucica and Vermosa rivers in the Kom Mountains, and on the Zeletin, Zjekirica, 

 and Sekular Mountains. According to Beck, the tree is not found on the north 

 Albanian Alps, as these are composed of limestone, on which it never grows in the 

 wild state. In Montenegro it is not much affected by the great differences in climate 

 throughout its extensive range of elevation, 2600 to 6300 ft., in which three species 

 of juniper are found, each confined to a dis.tinct zone of altitude. It assumes a bushy 



1 Ex Beissner, Nadelhohkunde, 286 (1891). ^ piora Bulgarica, 518 (1891), and Hid., Suppl. i. 333 (1898). 



3 Consp. Flora Graca, iii. 451 (1904)- 



