2188 



ARBORETUM AND F11UT1CETUM. 



PART III. 



to a scale of 8 ft, to 1 in. ; and 



which was, in 1837, 14 It. high. 

 This variety is described, in the 

 Nouv. l)u Hamel, as having the 

 leaves rigid, and of a deep green; 

 the cone conical, often two to- 

 gether, shorter than the leaves, 

 with their seales ending in a 

 pyramidal quadrangular point, 

 which is turned hack. The cat- 

 kins of the male flowers are al- 

 most sessile, and the anthers 

 have a round membranaceous 

 crest. It forms a bush in some 

 eases, and a tree in others, ac- 

 cording to the soil and situation 

 in which it springs up or is planted. The cones readily distinguish 

 it from P. (s.) pumilio. It is found on the Carniolan Mountains, the 

 Pyrenees, on Mount Ventoux, and in other places. M. Villars 

 observes that, when it grows on the summits of mountains, it is a 

 mere bush ; but that, as it descends to the plains, it becomes 

 a tree. 



The P. s. uncinata of Captain S. E. Cook (Sketches, ii. p. 230.), we 

 believe, judging from the young plants in the Horticultural Society's 

 Garden, and from cones sent to Captain Cook from M. P. Boileau, 

 through M. Vilmorin, to be either identical with, or a subvariety of, 

 P. (s.) Mughus. The following note has been sent to us by Captain 

 Cook: — " P. uncinata is found on the upper zone, or line, of the 

 forest vegetation of the Pyrenees, on both sides the chain. At the 

 Lac de Gaube, and in a few other localities where the forests 

 have been allowed to attain their natural state, it is mixed, at first, 

 with Picea pectinata and Pinus sylvestris ; but, as you ascend, 

 it gradually leaves these species below, and occupies exclu- 

 sively the Siberian region of the high or central Pyrenees. Other 

 localities in which it is believed to occur are, on some elevated 

 detached masses of mountain between the Pyrenees and the Alps 

 of Mount Cenis, where, no doubt, it lies over the great forests 

 of the Maurienne, which are of P. sylvestris. This pine is ex- 

 tremely valuable from its hardiness, as well as for the resinous 

 quality and great durability of its timber. In the Spanish pro- 

 vinces, it is used for torches; and its timber is considered to be. 

 superior in quality to that of the P. sylvestris ; it is also used 

 for making charcoal. As an ornamental tree, it will be highly 

 desirable, from the intensely dark green of its foliage, as well as 

 the close and solid mass it forms, and the habit of the tree, where 

 left at liberty to throw out massy arms, trailing on the ground, a 

 quality so unusual in its class. There are now very scanty remains 

 of this noble tree in the French Pyrenees, where they have been 

 almost wholly eradicated by the barbarous improvidence of the 

 people : there are a few left at the Lac de Gaube, at Gavarme, at 

 the Lac d'Oo, and on the Arriege; but in Aragon and Catalonia 

 there are forests still remaining of vast extent. They extend from 

 the region of Mont Perdu and the Maledetta, to the Valley of 

 Andorre on the Segrej the most considerable forests being those 

 opposite to the Valley of Arreau, within the Spanish territory, those 

 to the north-east of B£narque, and those of the republic of Andorre, 

 It niu it be grouped with J\ sylvestris, to which it is nearly re- 

 lated; but the port, colour, and strength of the leaves, and the 



