PINE TREES OF ROCKY MOUNTAIN REGION. 39 
The Pacific coast form of this species is commonly called “ scrub 
pine,” because it is stunted, and sometimes “sand pine” and “shore 
pine,” owing to the fact that the tree grows on the sandy seashore. 
The high-mountain form, however, particularly of the Rocky Moun- 
tain region, is most widely known as lodgepole pine, a name which is 
descriptive of the trunk form over most of the tree’s great range and 
therefore appropriate. ‘“'Tamarack,” “spruce pine,’ and “ Murray 
pine” are local names also applied to the mountain form of this species. 
The high-mountain form of this tree is believed to have been dis- 
covered by Lewis and Clark? in 1805 on mountains above the head- 
waters of Jefferson River (in the present Absaroka National Forest). 
western Montana, while the Pacific coast form is said to have been 
discovered by David Douglas in 1825 near the mouth of the Colum- 
bia River in Washington. The first technical name of this tree. 
Pinus contorta Loudon, was published in 1838. The accompanying 
description was based on the stunted Pacific coast form raised from 
seed which David Douglas introduced into England in 1831.2 The 
high-mountain form of lodgepole pine was first described and named 
“Pinus murrayana Oregon Committee” in 1853 and was found by 
John Jeffrey in 1852 in the Siskiyou Mountains, northern California. 
Ever since it was proposed to separate these two geographic forms of 
lodgepole pine the botanical history has been exceedingly complicated 
and includes the application by different authors of some 15 specific 
and varietal names, together with several erroneous references of the 
tree to other distinct species of two-leafed pines. Wide variation in 
the size of the cones and in the leaves has, for the most part, been the 
basis of confusion, which the present writer believes is best and prop- 
erly cleared up by uniting all forms of the tree as one species.® 
1 History of expedition under command of Lewis and Clark, ii, 457 (ed. Coues). It is 
believed that the pine mentioned in the narrative of these explorers, ‘‘a small species 
of pitch pine with a short leaf,’ could be no other than our lodgepole pine. 
2 Fide Sargent, Silva, XI, 93, 1897. 
3The high-mountain form of lodgepole pine was introduced into cultivation in England 
in 1853 and 1854 by John Jeffrey, who sent seeds from the California Sierras (fide Elwes 
and Henry, op. cit., 1138, 1910). The Pacific coast form did not appear in cultivation 
there until 1885, when it was catalogued by Lawson as ‘“ Pinus Mackintoshiana ” 
(Masters, Journ. Linn. Soc. (Bot.) XXXV, 647, 1904), although Douglas discovered the 
tree in 1825. Both forms appear to be hardy in England, where Eiwes and Henry (I. c.) 
mention trees ranging in height from 40 to 59 feet. One tree grown from seed of the 
coast form attained a height of 28 feet in 20 years, while examples of the high-mountain 
form reached a height of 30 feet in 25 years. Both forms of lodgepole pine are said to 
be cultivated in Belgium; and extensive trials of them for forest planting are being 
conducted in Germany, where, however, this tree is reported to be ‘affected somewhat by 
frost when planted in moist situations. Prof. C. S. Sargent (Gard. and For. X, 471, 
1897) states that trees from Colorado planted in the Arnold Arboretum, near Boston, 
Mass., about 1877 have proved hardy in New England. The interior high-mountain form 
of this species was extensively planted in forest stands at the Letchworth Park Forest 
and Aboretum, in Wyoming County, N. Y., from 1912 to 1914, and so far the young 
stock appears to be adapted to the soil and climate there. It is, however, too soon to 
judge of its fitness and value as a forest tree for that region. For ornamental planting 
lodgepole pine has little to commend it because of the open appearance of the crown 
and its short, unattractive leaves. 
