40 



The Pines 



yellowish brown, partially opening and slowly shedding the seed during the fall 

 and winter and often remaimng on the branches for another season. The scales 

 are thick and wide, rounded at the apex, thickened into an elongated and trans- 

 versely flattened knob, terminated by a strong, flattened, strongly upcurved spine 

 1.2 to 4 cm. long; the scales are dull dark purple on the unexposed faces. The 

 seed is oval, compressed, 12 mm. long, dark brown and ridged, encircled by a 

 wing with thickened inner margin, broadest near the oblique apex, nearly twice 

 longer than the seed, brown, shining, and striped by dark lines and separating 

 from both seed and cone-scales; cotyledons about 12. 



The wood is soft, weak, brittle, coarse-grained, light red, with wide conspic- 

 uous resin bands and very large resin-ducts; its specific gravity is about 0.41. It 

 is sometimes used as fuel. 



It is successfully grown in western Europe and is admired for its general 

 beauty and large cones. 



29. KNOB CONE PINE — Pinus attenuata Lemmon 



A tree of dry mountain sides at altitudes of from 300 to 1500 meters from 

 Oregon to southern CaUfomia, remarkable for its growth in poor dry soils and 



attaining a maximum height of 30 

 meters, with a trunk diameter of 7.5 

 dm.; often, however, it is but 6 me- 

 ters tall with a trunk diameter of 3 

 dm. and often fruiting when less 

 than 2 meters high. 



The trunk is often forked above 

 the middle into 2 trunk-like 

 branches; the branches are relatively 

 slender, in regular distant whorls, 

 horizontal, curving upward at the 

 tips and forming a broad-based 

 compact cone, becoming a narrow 

 and round-headed tree when old. 

 The bark is up to 12 mm. thick, 

 somewhat shallowly fissured into 

 irregular, loose, dark, sometimes 

 purplish plates, but smooth, close, 

 and pale brown, on yoimger stems. 

 The twigs are slender, dark yellow- 

 brown and smooth, becoming dark with age and roughened by the persistent bases 

 of the bud-scales. Branch-buds are oblong-ovoid, sharp-pointed, 12 to 16 mm. 

 long, with brown-fringed scales. Leaves in sheathed clusters of 3, pale green or 

 bluish green, 7.5 to 13 cm. long, slender, .remotely toothed and sharp callous-tipped. 



Fig. 31. — Knob Cone Pine. 



