156 A MANUAL OF THE CONIFEKiE. 



high, the diameter of the head is 22 feet, and the trunk is clear of 

 ^ranches for 15 feet. 



The specific name pinea was doubtless selected by Linnaeus, to 

 express the high estimation in which this Pine is held. Pinus pinea 



is literally " Pine of Pines," The common name Stone Pine was 



probably given to it on account of the hard shell that encloses the 

 seed. 



Pinus pyrenaica. — A handsome tree, of rather rapid growth) form- 

 ing, in a few years, a fine ornamental specimen with a regular 

 pyramidal outline, and densely clothed with bright deep green foliage. 

 The branches are numerous, and the branchlets close set, the bark 

 of the young growth being of a bright orange colour, by which the 

 species is easily recognised. The leaves are from 3£ to 4£ inches 

 long, often longer on young plants, thin, smooth, and slightly scabrous 

 at the edges. The cones are from 2J to 3 inches long," and about 

 li inch in diameter at the thickest part, slightly curved and 

 tapering to a point. 



Habitat. — The Pyrenees, chiefly on the Spanish side; also in many 

 places on the Sierras stretching across the Peninsula; in the south 

 of France, especially in the department of Gers.* 



Introduced into England in 1834 by Captain Cook (afterwards 

 Captain Widdrington). 



Pinus sylvestris— The Scotch or Wild Pine, one of the most 

 widely distributed and, at the same time, one of the most useful of all 

 Pines. The trunk is erect, often attaining a height of from 80 to 100 

 feet, and covered with reddish bark; the branches are spreading, 

 but short, the lower ones dying off at an early age, even on trees 

 that stand singly. The leaves on young vigorous-growing trees are 

 from 2 to 3 inches long, but on old trees much shorter; they are 

 at first always of a glaucous green, the glaucescence gradually 

 becoming fainter by age and disappearing in the second year, when 

 they are of a deep sombre green. The cones ripen in the autumn of 

 the second year, and shed their seeds in the following spring. 



Habitat — Central and northern Europe including Great Britain; the 

 Siberian forest region as far as the Amour Eiver. 



* And according to Parlatore, " In nenioribus Calabrite-ad 2,400—3,000 ped, hinc inde 

 solitana ; m insula Cypro, insula Creta, frequens in Monte Tauro Caramanico ad 2,500—5,000 

 ped ; in Syria et in Bythinia ubi vastas conficit sylvas."— Prod, xvi., p. 384. 



