46 PINES 
In the Pinaster group only one whorl of branchlets, 
buds, and cones appear, and those approximate 
towards the end, or, in other words, sub-terminally, 
of each year’s shoot. These are botanically described 
as uni-nodal as opposed to multi-nodal. 
P. Ecutnata, or Mit1s.—This is a Pine which one 
generation, or school of thought, called Echinata, and 
another generation fixed upon for a name the word 
Mitis. Echinata literally means either one or two 
things. 
To a landsman the first translation “‘ hedgehog” 
would, in all probability, satisfy his thirst for know- 
ledge, while to a mariner or dweller by the seashore the 
second translation “sea urchin,” a little frequenter: 
of the salt-water element, would probably most 
strongly appeal. Both of them are prickly-backed 
representatives of the created world, and that is the 
main issue before us. 
Such a name conveys to all the impression that 
the tree in question has prickly points somewhere 
in his composition, in common with the members of 
the Echinoderm family. While the other name 
bestowed, ‘‘ Mitis,’”” denotes a substance that spells 
softness. It seems a curious coincidence that this 
tree should be alternately called after two phases of 
nature possessed of two such opposite and contradic- 
tory attributes and qualifications as a hedgt-pig’s 
quills and a feather-bed mattress respectively recall. 
How the rough places became smooth, and why 
the smooth places were called rough, is a bewildering. 
enigma at first sight. As a matter of fact the leaves 
of this Pine are notoriously soft, and the cones have 
prickles like a great many other cones, but rather 
less than more aggressive than many others that we 
could mention—the P. Pungens of the same group, to. 
wit. 
