242 THE ALPINE THICKETS AND FORESTS 



exceptionally in certain localities, as in the Zermatt 

 and Saas Valleys. At one time it was thought that 

 the Larch altogether avoided limestone soils, but it 

 is now known that this is not the case. The Larch, 

 like the Spruce and Pines, yields resin and turpentine, 

 and the bark is sometimes used in tanning. 



The Stone or Arolla Pine. 



The Stone Pine, or Arolla Pine as it is sometimes 

 called in Switzerland, Pinus cembra, Linn. (Plate III.), 

 is a very handsome tree, easily distinguished from all 

 the other Alpine Conifers, by the fact that the leaves 

 are arranged in little bundles of five, on very short 

 shoots, and by the absence of any wing to the seed. 

 It is a tall tree, sometimes reaching a height of 

 70 feet. 



There is reason to beheve that extensive forests of 

 Stone Pines once existed in Switzerland, but most of 

 these have long ago perished beneath the woodman's 

 axe. At the present day the Stone Pine is distinctly 

 uncommon, and, as a rule, only isolated examples or 

 small groups are met with at infrequent intervals. 

 It is perhaps the rarest as well as the most handsome 

 of Alpine Conifers. Dr Christ states that forests of 

 these Pines, much gnarled and twisted, occur on the 

 slopes of the Kleine Scheidegg (on the Grindelwald 

 side) and elsewhere in the Bernese Oberland. Some 

 of the finest examples are found in the Valaisian 

 valleys on the south side of the Rhone valley, especi- 



