P. BANKSIANA 51 
under the circumstances above described, should 
read rather as a merit than demerit, but not in the 
sense that those whom the gods love die young. 
The P. Echinata and P. Virginiana read rather as 
a complex problem for dissociating purposes. 
There are these differences : the'leaf of the Echinata 
is three-sided, the leaf of the Virginiana two-sided, 
and the difference of the basal sheath should be 
capable of affording a key to solution. The shoots 
of both show a bloom of blue or violet coloration. 
Loudon pointed out, and it is well worth remem- 
bering by those trying to learn their trees, that only 
two of the two-leaved Conifers have these coloured 
shoots, and they are the subjects of our discussion, 
and that only two of the Ternate, or three-leaved 
Pines, had shoots of this hue, and they were the 
P. Coulteri and Sabiniana. To this we ought to add 
the P. Jeffreyi of the same group, a tree invented 
since the days of Loudon, the shoots of which 
are somewhat similar, but of a paler shade of colour, 
that you might better describe as of a light helio- 
trope tint. 
The P. Echinata and Virginiana are said to be 
hardly distinguishable in their youth, and seemingly 
pretty much of the same pattern in their adolescence 
and old age. Yet not like Tennyson’s two sisters, 
“both beautiful alike.’”” They both seem cast in 
an opposite mould, and must have been at some 
distance round the corner when good looks were being 
distributed among the families of Pine trees. 
P. BANKSIANA is a tree a great deal oftener seen 
than others of this group. Its natural habit seems 
to be sandy soils and the most barren of localities. 
It is not recommended by the faculty as a tree to 
cultivate, yet some who run shootings on high lands 
and barren tops, where coppice scarce makes show, 
5 
