Pinus I o 1 7 



PINUS AYACAHUITE, Mexican White Pine 



Pinus Ayacahuite^ Ehrenberg, ex Schlechtendal, in Linnaa, xii. 492 (1838); Loudon, Emycl. Trees, 

 1023 (1842); Masters, in Gard. Chron. xviii. 492, f. 83 (1882), in Lawson, Pinetum Brit. i. 9, 

 t. 2 (1884), zxi6.\i\ Journ. Linn. Soc. {Bot.) xxxv. 579 (1904); Kent, Veitch's Man. Conif. 

 311 (1900); Clinton-Baker, Illust. Conif. i. 8 (1909); Shaw, Pines of Mexico, 9, t. iv. (1909). 



A tree attaining in Mexico 100 ft. or more in height and 12 ft. in girth, and 

 in cultivation resembling P. excelsa in habit. Bark rough and scaly on old trees. 

 Buds reddish brown, resinous, ovoid, acuminate, about \ in. long ; scales with long 

 acuminate tips, usually free and directed upwards. Young branchlets covered 

 with a short brown pubescence, occasionally confined to the parts below the 

 insertions of the leaves ; older branchlets glabrescent, and bright brown or greyish 

 in colour. 



Leaves in fives, spreading, usually persistent for three years, very slender or 

 filiform, 4 to 8 in. long, serrulate, sharp-pointed, straight, scarcely twisted ; outer 

 surface green, with two or three short stomatic lines near the top ; inner flat surfaces, 

 each with three or four continuous white stomatic lines ; resin-canals marginal ; basal 

 sheath f in. long, early deciduous. 



Cones sub-terminal, pendent, solitary, or in pairs, on stalks about \ in. long, 

 ovoid - cylindrical, often curved, gradually narrowing towards the obtuse apex, 

 8 to 18 in. long, 2\ to 6 in. wide towards the base, pale brown and resinous when 

 mature. Scales about 2 or 3 in. long, and \ X.o \\ in. wide ; apophysis rhomboidal 

 or triangular, reflexed, ending in a swollen, rounded, inflexed or reflexed resinous 

 tip. Seed ovoid, compressed, f in. long, brownish, mottled with dark streaks or 

 spots ; wing oblong, narrow, oblique, about f in. long, pale brown, with longitudinal 

 darker streaks. 



This species so closely resembles P. excelsa in habit and foliage that possibly 

 some of the trees passing under the latter name in cultivation may belong to it, but 

 it is readily distinguished by the more slender leaves and the pubescent branchlets, 

 which have in cultivated trees a reddish brown colour. It is quite distinct in cones 

 and seeds. 



Varieties 



This pine varies extremely in the size and shape of the cones, seeds, and seed- 

 wings, and according to Shaw, comprises three distinct geographical races, which are 

 however connected by numerous intermediate forms : — 



1. Typical form, described above. Seed with a long narrow wing. Prevalent 

 in Guatemala and the southern states of Mexico. 



2. Var. Veitchii, Shaw, Pines of Mexico, 10, t. v. (1909). 

 Pinus Veitchii, Roezl,^ Cat. Gr. Conif. Mex. 32 (1857). 



Pinus Bonapartea, Roezl, in Gard. Chron. 1858, p. 358; Clinton-Baker, Illust. Conif. i. 12 



(1909). 

 Pinus Loudoniana, Gordon, Pinetum, 230 (1858). 



' Roezl's P. durangensis is probably typical P. Ayacakuite. 

 2 /> £)on Pedri, P. hamata, and P. Popocatepetli, names given to certain cones by Roezl, belong to this variety. 

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