18 FAMILIAR TREES 
feet in Spain, 2,500 to 3,000 feet in Albania, and 3,000 
to 5,000 feet in Corsica to 4,000 to 6,000 feet on 
Mount Taurus and 4,000 to 6,500 feet on Etna. 
The Corsican Pine was first introduced into 
England in 1759, and was described as a maritime 
variety of the Scots Fir (Pinus sylves‘tris n marit’vma) 
by Aiton, in the first edition of the Hortus Kewensis, 
in 1789. In the second edition he called it P. marit’- 
ima, and, though it was named P. Laricio by Poiret 
in 1804, that name was not adopted in England until 
eighteen years later. The fine specimen near the 
principal entrance to Kew Gardens was probably 
planted before 1774, the date when the tree in the 
Jardin des Plantes at Paris was planted, the species 
having, at that time, attracted the attention of 
Turgot’s Ministry. The French Government had 
great difficulty in obtaining seeds in Corsica, since 
the cones were only produced in small numbers near 
the summits of the lofty but doubtless thriving trees. 
This led the dealers to adulterate the seed with that 
of the Cluster Pine. In 1788, however, the Corsican 
Pine was adopted for masts for the French navy. 
Many trees were felled, and cones were thus pro- 
cured in greater numbers. Between 1822 and 
1830 this species was grafted on many thousand 
stocks of P. sylvestris in the forest of Fontaine- 
bleau. Poiret’s specific name, Laricio, which is 
sometimes rendered literally in English as “Larch 
Pine,” seems to be the Corsican name for the species. 
In 1793 or 1794 the great German traveller 
Pallas sent seeds from the Crimea to Messrs. Lee 
and Kennedy, of the Hammersmith Nursery, of 
