CHAP. CXIII. CONI FERiE. Pl'NUS. 2189 



form of the cones, enable the practised eye to distinguish it in a 



moment from that species. — S. E. Cook. Carlton, near Darlington, 



Mai/, 1837." 



36 2. P. (.?.) j)' ^ M. nana, the Knee Pine of the Styrian Alps, never 



grows above 3 ft. high. A plant has been in the Trinity College 



Botanic Garden, Dublin, since 1817; and, in 20 years, it has not 



attained a greater height than an ordinary-sized man's knee. 



Other Varieties. P. (s.) pumilio and P. (s.) p. Miighus vary so much 



according to the localities in which they arc found, that, if it were desirable 



to increase the number of subvarieties, there might be a dwarf, a tall, and a 



medium form given to each. In the Horticultural Society's Garden, there is 



a handsome, erect-growing, small tree of P. (s.) p. Miighus, under the name 



of P. uncinata, and also a dwarf plant, under the same name; both producing 



hooked cones. At White Knights, where there are 20 or 30 plants of P. 



(s.) pumilio, they vary in size from a recumbent bush, 5 ft. or 6 ft. high, and 



20 ft. or 30 ft. in diameter, to trees of between 30 ft. and 40 ft. in height ; 



some of them with trunks clear of branches to 3 ft. or 4 ft. from the ground. 



Some of these trees have been drawn up in this form in consequence of 



being crowded among others. 



Description, $c. The common character belonging to all the varieties of 

 P. (s.) pumilio is, that of being smaller in all their parts, and less glaucous in 

 the general appearance of their foliage, than P. syivestris. The leaves are 

 also much more thickly set on the branches; and the sheaths 

 on the leaves of the current year are much longer and whiter, 

 especially towards the extremities of the shoots. In the ^wlfc "°"* 

 dwarf varieties, the cones are small; and those of P. (s.) p. 

 Miighus have often a deformed stunted appearance ; but, in 

 some of the tall varieties of P. (s.) pumilio, the cones are 

 exactly like those of the Scotch pine, as are also the buds. 

 The rate of growth is slow in all the varieties, in the tall- 

 est not exceeding 4 in. or 5 in., or at most 6 in., in the year. 

 All the varieties are natives of the mountains of most parts 

 of Europe, more especially in France and Germany ; and 

 they have been recognised by botanists from the time of 

 Mathiolus. P. (s.) pumilio appears to have been first culti- 

 vated in England in 1779, by John Blackburn, Esq., at 

 Orford Hall, near Warrington, in Lancashire, where the ori- 

 ginal plant still exists, forming a large recumbent bush, but 

 in a shattered condition. All the varieties have a powerful terebinthinate 

 odour ; and produce abundantly, when the branches are broken, a fragrant and 

 fluid resin, wiiich is sold, in Hungary, Carniola, &c., as a balsam for curing ul- 

 cers, contusions, and rheumatism. The krumholz oil, which is produced by 

 distillation from the burned branches, is of a golden colour, agreeable odour, 

 and acrid oily flavour; and it is used for similar diseases, particularly in 

 veterinary surgery. In Britain, P. (s.) pumilio and its varieties are curious 

 or ornamental bushes or trees, and, as such, are valuable objects in small 

 gardens, and in miniature pinetums. The vigour of the foliage, and the in- 

 tensity of its colour, vary exceedingly, according to the soil and situation in 

 which any of the varieties of this plant and P. (s.) p. Miighus are placed. 

 The different varieties come tolerably true from seed, by which means they 

 are generally propagated ; but P. (s) p. Fischeri has hitherto been inarched, 

 not having yet ripened cones, either on the Continent or in Britain. 



Statistics. The largest plants of P. (s.) pumilio in the immediate neighbourhood of London are 

 at Syo'.i, and in the Horticultural Society's Garden, where they are from 4 ft. to 6 ft. high. The 

 largest in England are at White Knights, where there are a number of trees upwards of 30 ft. high ; 

 and several bushes of from 20 ft. to 30 ft. in diameter, and 10 ft. or 12 ft. high. At Dropmore, 

 the bush of which fig. 2063. is a portrait, to a scale of 8 ft. to 1 in., is above 12 ft. high, and covers a 

 space 25 ft. in diameter. At Hendon Rectory, there are several handsome conical plants in pots, 

 from 3 ft. to 5 ft. high. At Bollvvyller, plants of P. (s.) pumilio are 1 franc 50 cents, and of P. (s.) 

 p. Miighus 1 franc, each. Plants of P. uncinata, in the London nurseries, are 10s. 6d. each; but, 

 whether they arc identical with P. (s.) p. Miighus, or with P. s. 4 uncinata (p. 2156 ), we are uncer- 

 tain, having only seen very small plants. 



