322 DIVERSIONS OF A NATURALIST 



top in the moorlands, and are associated with poetic 

 tradition and ancient superstition. In the North of 

 Britain they are more frequent as forest. The Scots 

 fir is the only pine tree really native in our land. It 

 is distinguished from several other species of Pinus by 

 having the leaves or needles in bundles of two, and 

 having relatively small oblong cones (2 to 3 inches long) 

 which are borne near the ends of the branches (Fig. 31). 

 The constituent scales of the cone are only slightly 

 thickened, and the surface knob has no prickle. There 

 are two of the common pine trees of the Mediterranean 

 coast (the Riviera and elsewhere), namely, the Aleppo 

 pine (Pinus halepensis) and the so-called Corsican or 

 Austrian pine (Pinus Laricio), which agree in the above- 

 given points with the Scots fir, and are, in fact, difficult 

 to distinguish from it, except by general shape, mode of 

 growth, and the colour of the leaves and stem. The 

 needles of the Scots fir are i ^ to 3 inches long, those 

 of P. halepensis 2 J to 3 J inches, and those of P. Laricio 

 4 to 6 inches long. The Pyrensean or Calabrian pine 

 is closely similar to these. 



A very important and abundant pine on the 

 Mediterranean and Biscay coast of France is the Pinaster 

 (Pinus pinaster), often called the " cluster pine," and by 

 the French Pin des Landes and Pin maritime (Fig. 39). 

 It also has its needles, often 6 inches long, in groups of 

 two. It is usually a smaller tree than the others, but in 

 favourable localities attains a height of 80 feet. Its cones 

 are twice as long as those of the Scots fir, often, as at 

 Bournemouth, 4 and even 5 inches long, and its branches 

 are slender in proportion to the trunk, the bark coarse 

 and fissured, and its foliage (as is that of all the two-leaved 

 set except the Scots fir) of a yellowish (not bluish) green. 

 It has been found invaluable in holding sandy land from 



