PINUS LAEICIO. 147 



of the seed much shortened and rounded through shrinking. The 

 scales are broad, flat, smooth, and yellowish-brown, with a greyish 

 tinge when mature. 



Habitat. — The Mediterranean region, from Portugal to the Levant; 

 also western Asia as far as Georgia and even Persia; on Mount 

 Hebron in Palestine, and other parts of Syria.* 



Introduced into England in 1663, by Bishop Compton. 



The wood of the Aleppo Pine is white and fine in grain ; it is 

 much used in joinery throughout the extensive region in which it is 

 abundant. The secretions are very copious, and the turpentine and 

 resin procured from them are preferred to those obtained from 

 Pinus Pinaster, the common Pine of the south-west of Europe. In 

 some parts of Italy, especially in the Eiviera, the leaves are used by 

 the people of the country in their stables instead of straw. 



Pinus halepensis thrives among the rocks on the Mediterranean shore, 

 where comparatively few other trees find subsistence ; the stems and 

 branches often assume the most fantastic contortions, from the direc- 

 tion given to the south-west wind by rocky angles exposed to it. In 

 England it requires a sheltered situation. 



Pinus Laricio. — A tall, fast-growing tree, with a straight trunk 

 furnished with comparatively few and short branches, and which, 

 when standing singly, has a very elongated pyramidal outline. The 

 leaves are of variable length, the longest being about 6 inches, and 

 frequently twisted. The cones are about the same size, and closely 

 resemble those of P. austriaea. (See fig. 36.) This Pine is easily 

 recognised by its strict, erect habit, shortened branches, which some- 

 times show a tendency to curve in a direction round the tree and 

 upwards, and by its large twisted glaucous foliage. 



Habitat. — Southern Europe, and many parts of western Asia; the 

 islands in the Mediterranean Sea, particularly Corsica, Sardinia, and- 



Sicily.t 



Introduced into England in 1759, under the name of Pinus sylvestris 



maritima. 



Pinus Laricio caramanica is said to attain scarcely half the 

 height of the common form. As seen in British gardens it is a 

 low tree with a divided trunk, much branched, and of rather dense 



habit. 



* Carriere, p. 506. 



t Very common on Mount Etna, from 4,000 to 6,000 feet elevation. 



