SOME AMERICAN PINES 347 



the sea coast from the 44° to the 49° of North Latitude, at all times con- 

 fined to damp boggy soils where Vacdnium uliginosum, Oxycoccus maoro- 

 carpus delight to grow and where there is uniformly a dense carpet of 

 Sphagnum oUusifoUum and tufts of Bartramia. Not uncommon from 

 " Cape Look Out " to the confluence of the Columbia ; more abundant 

 towards Puget Sound, and very likely will be found to increase in number 

 to the 60°. 



Little can be said in favour of this tree either for ornament or as a 

 useful wood. 



14. P. Banksiana, Lamb. Gen. Pin. ed. 1. 1. 3 ; Pursh, Fl. Am. Sept. 2, 

 p. 642 ; Richards, in Frankl. Journ. App. p. 752. 



P. rupestris, Michx. f. Hist. Arb. Am. 1, p. 49. t. 2. 



Flowers in May. 



A common tree in the mountainous districts of the Columbia River in 

 48° Lat., 118° West Long., and in the valleys of the Rocky Mountains 

 and on the banks of streams that flow into Hudson's Bay. 



This species occupies higher altitudes than any other natives of the 

 continent of America. In the 53° North Latitude it is not uncommon, 

 though of diminutive growth, at the height of 11,000 feet above the 

 level of the sea, and exists to within 700 feet of the confines of perpetual 

 snow. 



As a proof of their hardiness, such trees as spring in sheltered coves or 

 recesses that are screened from the blast, grow vigorously tiU such time 

 as their tops outgrow the height of the rocks which protect them, when, 

 by the severity of the climate and the keenness of the atmosphere, the tops 

 become horizontal as if cut with hedge shears. 



In the valleys where the wind is at all seasons of the year by projecting 

 places of the rocks directed to the same point, thp trees have their branches 

 literally all blown to one side, the one side being perfectly smooth as if 

 effected by art. 



In the valleys of the central ridge of the continent and west of that 

 ridge it is found and exclusively confined to this species. 



15. P. rigida, [Mill. Gard. Diet. ed. 8, n. 10] ; Marshall. Arb. Am. 

 p. 101 ; Lamb. Gen. Pin. ed. I. tt. 18, 19 ; Michx. f. Arb. Hist. Am. 1, 

 p. 89, t. 8 ; Pursh, Fl. Am. Sept. 2, p. 643. 



P. Taeda rigida p. Ait. Hort. Kew. ed. I. v. 3, p. 368. 



Conamon in Northern California in barren soils extending as far north 

 as the 45° about a hundred miles from the sea, forming small clumps or 

 thinly scattered over the ground with P. Lambertiana. 



16. P. microcarpa,^ Lamb. Gen. Pin. ed. II. 2, p. 56, t. 37 ; P. laricina, 

 Du Roi, Obs. Bot. p. 49 ; Harbk. Baumz., v. 2, p. 83, t. 3, f. 5-7. 



Near the source of River Athabasca in the eastern valleys of the 

 Rocky Mountains in the 53° North Lat. the present is of very humble 

 growth, never exceeding two or three feet high and six to ten inches in 

 diameter. Abundant on the shores of Lesser Slave Lake, Lake Winnipeg, 

 and the streams that flow into Hudson's Bay. Has not yet been seen 

 on the North-West coast. 



1 Larix americana, Sargent, Silva N. Am. xii. p. 7. 



