PINE FAMILY 



Cones. — Ovoid-conical or ovate, one to three inches long, often 

 clustered ; scales thickened at apex, the transverse ridge acute, 

 armed with short recurved prickles,' flat. Often 

 persist on the branches for several years. Seeds 

 nearly triangular, dark brown mottled with black ; 

 wings three-fourths of an inch long, broadest below 

 the middle. 



The Pitch Pine is, perhaps, the most virile of 

 the genus ; it certainly flourishes under most 

 adverse conditions, for it will " cling like a 

 limpet to the rocks," or it will go down to the 

 barren sands of the sea-shore and cover vast 

 tracts so densely that the moving dunes can 

 move no more. It is even tolerant of a salt 

 sea bath. It is the only pine that can send 

 forth shoots .after injury by fire. 



Its economic value is not great, the wood is 

 too thoroughly saturated with resin to be val- 

 uable as lumber. Its value is chiefly as fuel. 

 Tar and turpentine can be obtained from it 

 but much more easily and of better quality 

 from the southern pines. In dense vi^oods the 

 Pitch Pine, ftKus trunk grows erect but in the open it becomes 



rtgida. Leaves ^ _ * 



3' to 5' long. tortuous, angled and often picturesque. 



JERSEY PINE. SCRUB PINE 



Pinus virginicma. Plniis indps. 



Usually thirty or forty feet high with a short trunk, long horizontal 

 branches in remote whorls forming a broad pyramidal head. Found 

 on light sandy soil and especially in Virginia and Maryland on ex- 

 hausted lands. In Indiana it is found one hundred feet high. In 

 Virginia it ascends 3,300 feet above the sea. 



Bark. — Dark brown with reddish tinge, divided by shallow fissures 

 into flat scaly plates. Branchlets are pale green and glaucous at 

 first, sometimes with purple tinge, finally becoming pale gray 

 brown. 



Wood. — Pale orange, sapwood nearly white ; light, soft, brittle, 

 slightly resinous. Sp. gr., 0.5309; weight of cu.ft., 33.09 lbs. 



4S6 



