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PINE. — PINUS. 



Natural order, Conifer &. A genus of the Mo- 

 ncecia Monadelphia class. 



" To loftier forms are rougher tasks assign'd, 

 The sheltering oak resists the stormy wind, 

 The tougher yew repels invading foes, 

 And the tall pine for future navies grows." 



Barbauld. 



Etymologists differ considerably respect- 

 ing the derivation of the generic name of this 

 species of resinous trees. Linnaeus places 

 Pinus amongst the Latin names of unknown 

 origin ; and Martyn leaves it unexplained, 

 in his splendid edition of Miller's Gardener's 

 Dictionary ; but the lexicographers are 

 mostly content to refer to its Greek synonym 

 ir'nvq ; and it is possible that both words had 

 the same source. M. Pirolle derives it from 

 the Greek pitys, and Pinos from the adjective 

 pion, fat, because they extracted pitch and 

 turpentine from these trees ; but De Theis 

 deduces Pinus from the Celtic, and shows it 

 to exist, variously modified, in all the dialects 

 of that ancient language, its basis being pin 



