1052 The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland 



PIN us GERARDIANA, Gerard's Pine 



Pinus Gerardiana, Wallich, ex Lambert, Genus Pinus, ii. 145. *• 79 (1832); Loudon,^ Arb. et Frut. 

 Brit. iv. 2254(1838); Royle, Illust. Him. Plants, 353, t. 85, f. 2 (1839); Yox-b&i, Pinetum 

 Woburnense, 53, t. 19 (1839); Cleghorn, mjourn. Agric. Hort. Soc. India, xiv. 266, t. 4 (1867); 

 Hooker, Fl. Brit. India, v. 652 (1888); Kent, Veitch's Man. Conifera, 331 (1900); Gamble, 

 Indian Timbers, ■jog (1902); Masters, mjourn. Linn. Soc. {Bot.) xxxv. 590 (1904); Brandis, 

 Indian Trees, 690 (1906); Clinton-Baker, Illust. Conif. i. 22 (1909). 



Pinus Gerardi, Forbes, Hort. Woburn. 210 (1833). 



A tree, attaining 80 ft. in height and 12 ft. in girth. Bark thin, grey, with 

 scattered brown lenticels, exfoliating in irregular scales, which leave shallow brownish 

 depressions, dotted over with minute holes. 



Buds about | in. long, conic, acuminate ; scales appressed and resinous. Young 

 branchlets glabrous, olive green, with prominent pulvini, which are less marked in 

 following years. Leaves in threes, more crowded on the branchlets, duller in colour, 

 and less rigid than those of P. Bungeana, straight or slightly curved, 3 to 4 in. 

 long, serrulate, sharp-pointed, marked with stomatic lines on the three surfaces ; 

 fibro-vascular bundle undivided, resin-canals marginal ; basal sheaths loose, \ in. 

 long in the first year and completely deciduous in the second year. 



Cones, on short scaly peduncles, subterminal, broadly ovoid, variable in size, 4 

 to 9 in. long, and 3 to 5 in. in diameter ; scales i^ in. long, i in. broad, very thick 

 and woody ; apophysis triangular, reflexed downwards at nearly a right angle, and 

 ending in a swollen umbo, which is often tipped with a recurved spine. Seed 

 cylindric, f to i in. long, edible ; rudiment of the wing present as a narrow deciduous 

 border, remaining on the scale when the seed falls. 



Gerard's pine is a native of the western Himalayas, extending eastward to the 

 Niti Pass in Garhwal, and occurring also in the mountains of Baluchistan, northern 

 Afghanistan, Kafiristan, and in the Hariab district. It grows in the inner arid 

 valleys, beyond the reach of the south-west monsoon, never forming dense forests, 

 but occurring in isolated groups on dry steep rocky slopes, especially on granite 

 and slate formations ; and ranges between 6000 and 1 1,000 ft. elevation. Thomson^ 

 describes it as a compact small tree, with twisted ascending branches and a mottled 

 grey bark, smooth on account of the shedding of the outer layers. Aitchison^ 

 speaks of it as a very handsome tree, branching more like an oak than a pine, and 

 readily distinguished at a distance by its ashy grey bark, which on close examination 

 consists of patches of all tints from light green to red and brown, due to the peculiar 

 way in which it exfoliates. 



According to Gamble, its growth is moderate, about 1 3 rings per inch of radius. 

 The wood is tough, and used for the hook supporting the passenger's seat on the 

 native rope bridges; but the tree is hardly ever felled as it is very valuable on 



> Loudon cites as synonymns, P. Neoza, Govan, and P. Chilghoza, Elphinstone, MS. names without description ; and 

 it is doubtful whether they were applied to this species or to P. longifolia. 



2 W. Himalaya and Tibet, 74. 3 jo^rn. Linn. Soc. (Bot.) xviii. 98 (1881). 



