THE PINE TREE: 179 
Montana (Baumann).—These pines are closely related to the 
Scotch pine, but they are all of a very dwarfed habit of 
growth, and bear a close resemblance to one another. They 
are natives of high mountains, and abound on the Alps, the 
Pyrenees, and other cold exposures throughout Europe, where 
they become bushy shrubs; whereas, with a little more 
shelter, some of them attain to the size of low bushy trees. 
Their yearly shoots are very short, with the foliage thickly 
set, of a dark green, and their habit being broad and spread- 
ing, adapts them for cold and windy situations. As these 
sorts are often found occupying the more elevated grounds 
close to the forests of P. sylvestris, it is believed that their 
peculiarities and habits are produced from the effects of 
climate and situation, by the repeated generations of a tree 
susceptible of great change in the course of a long period, 
under such circumstances. They all produce wood, red, hard, 
and durable, and from its very resinous and inflammable 
quality it is used as torch-lights by the inhabitants of the 
countries where it is produced. All these sorts blossom at 
an early age, and produce cones very abundantly, particularly 
pumilio and mughus. I have seen the pumilio produce a 
female blossom during the third summer of its growth in the 
nursery, and an infertile cone the fourth summer, while the 
plant was yet under one foot in height. In nurseries these 
trees are only grown for ornamental purposes, or by lovers 
of variety. Although they are all stemless trees, the mon- 
tana being only a tall bush, yet there are purposes for which 
they may be found very suitable. I have seen in some of the 
northern islands of Scotland the pumilio and mughus, though 
only about two feet high, form a cover of rich green dense 
foliage, on the most exposed ground, composed of pure moss, 
and so wet that water might be compressed from the soil at 
every season of the year, and where any other ligneous plant 
could hardly exist. 
The habits and the tenacity of life in these trees in the 
most inhospitable soil and climate, adapt them admirably for 
being planted as underwood, associated with the native Scotch 
