142 THE PINES. 



Is rather dull grayish. It Is only found In a few places, with a few 

 trees at each, along the San Diego coast near Del Mar and on the island 

 of Santa Rosa. The trees are not very old and there is no sign of 

 any former extension of the species. In fact, it seems more like a new 

 adventurer to the State. It comes easily from the seed. The leaves 

 are in fives. Along the San Diego coast this pine crouches and lies 

 on the ground and rocks of the bluffs and barrancas to resist the sea 

 breeze, much as P. flexilis and P. albicaulis dwarf and creep under the 

 Sierra snows and winds. 



Once in our high southern mountains, the forest is of P. ponderosa, 

 cedar, sugar pine, firs, Douglas spruce and, in damp places and higher 

 up, of the tamarack pine. With these, in the lower levels, is the 

 golden live oak (Quercus Chrysolepis), and in the middle, higher, the 

 deciduous black oak with large edible acorns. 



Let us go on with the pines. The chieftain of pines of the whole 

 world is Pinus Lambertiana, the great sugar pine. This giant is 

 not plentiful in the Southern Sieras. It is easily recognizable, both 

 in its detail and general appearance, from other pines in our moun- 

 tains. The stem or bole is long, without limbs. The bark is of 

 a dark reddish brown of warm effect, finely Assured. Prom wounds 

 in it issues a sweet pine gum that is edible in small quantities, and 

 very laxative in any amount. This gum has given the tree its com- 

 mon name of sugar pine. The leaves are much shorter than those of 

 the yellow pine, and are always in bundles of fives. The leaf color 

 is a pleasant blue-green, very different from the sad, dull gray of P. 

 Sabiniana. Its most striking characteristic is the fruit. The cones 

 are the longest in the world — ten to eighteen inches. These hang 

 generally in clusters far out on the long branches, and bend these 

 down in graceful curves. The seeds are large, sweet and edible, but 

 very difficult to get. The mature trees have great individuality of 

 form. The foliage is often quite thick and concentrated about the 

 top. The branches stretch out over the lesser forest trees in an ad- 

 venturous, independent way. One tree lover has suggested them to 

 be the priests of the forest, forever extending a benediction to their 

 fellows. 



The sugar pine leaves have less of the pine taste and odor than 

 any other tree of the genus. 



Pines generally are inclined to a stiff, formal growth. The sugar 

 pine has nothing of this. Each of these trees has character of its own. 

 Each tree is interesting as an individual. In fact, the sugar pine is 



