150 A MANUAL Ot 'JtHE CONlMKA 



Mr. Maries, during his recent travels in Japan, had ample opportunities 

 of observing the common Pine of the country, both in its wild state 

 and in cultivation, but failed to distinguish two well denned forms or 

 species. Individual trees, and of these not a few, were to be met 

 with fully answering to the general description of P. densiflora, and 

 others that of P. Massoniana, but the intermediate forms immensely 

 outnumber them, so that it is impossible to say which of them should 

 be called P. densiflora and which P. Massoniana. Like all Conifers 

 that have been long under cultivation, the common Pine of Japan is 

 polymorphous, a property the Japanese horticulturists have not failed 

 to observe and to take advantage of, and have distinguished varieties by 

 specific names, as is frequently done by European horticulturists in the 

 case of other Conifene. 



The common Pine of Japan has proved quite hardy in Great Britain. 

 It is more nearly allied to the Pinaster than to any other of our 

 common Pines, but being quite distinct both from the European and 

 from the American types of the Pinaster section, it is a useful 

 addition to our hardy Pines for the park and landscape, and for 

 planting in proximity to the sea coast. 



The specific name Massoniana was given by Mr. Lambert, in com- 

 pliment to Mr. Erancis Masson, who brought the first dried specimens 

 to Europe from the Cape of Good Hope, obtained from plants raised 

 from seed which had been sent from China; but it is far more 

 probable that these were Pinus sinensis, and hence the change in 

 nomenclature made by Parlatore. 



Pinus monophylla is one of the smallest of the Californian Pines. 

 It is an Alpine species, rarely exceeding 20 feet high, and has a 

 dense bushy head and glaucous foliage; the branches are very numerous 

 and slender; the leaves, one to two inches in length, thick at the 

 base, attenuated towards the extremity, and terminating in a sharp 

 point. The leaves of P. monophylla present a curious anomaly not 

 met with in any other true Pine; in young plants, and on the young 

 growth of older ones, they are solitary, but they are subsequently 

 produced in twos, and even in threes. The cones, which are about 

 2£ inches long, are composed of thick ligneous light brown scales, 

 each containing two large ovate wingless seeds that are edible and 

 have a pleasant flavour. 



Habitat. — California, abundant on the Sierra Nevada. 



Introduced by Hartweg, in 1847. 



The specific name monophylla, from (Iovoq (monos) "single," and dvXkoP 

 (phullon) "a leaf," refers to the peculiarity of the leaves noticed above. 



