THE VOLATILE OIL OF PINUS SEROTINA* 
BY CHAS. H. HERTY AND W. S. DICKSON 
Scattered among the forests of Long Leaf pine along the Atlantic 
seaboard, there are found, usually in mixed stands, patches of 
Pond pine {Pinvs serotina) and Loblolly pine ( Finns taeda ) . 
These pines are seldom subjected to turpentining, as the yield of 
oleoresin is not so plentiful as from the predominating types Pinus 
palustris and Pinus heterophylla . Nor are the two species usually 
distinguished locally, the name “black pine” being applied to 
each. The striking odor of the wood of Pinus serotina when 
freshly cut made desirable an investigation of its volatile oil, and 
in collaboration with the U. S. Forest Service, the oil has been 
studied in this laboratory during the past year. Well identified 
trees were selected in Florida. The trees were regularly chipped 
throughout one season of eight months. The product from each 
tree was collected every eight weeks. The oleoresin closely resent" 
bles that from Cuban pine (P. heterophylla) being quite liquid and 
containing relatively about the same proportion of crystalline 
acids. To this low percentage of crystalline matter is to be as- 
signed doubtless, as in the case of P. heterophylla, the absence of 
“scrape” formation on the scarified surface of the tree, a forma- 
tion so typical of P. jmlustris ) . 
The volatile oil was distilled from the oleoresin by steam in the 
apparatus described on page 865 above. The oleoresin evidently 
contains a greater portion of mucilaginous substances than that 
from the more common pines, for it was much more difficult to 
distil. On heating to 140°, the usual temperature of distillation, 
and introducing steam, the easily molten mass froths badly. 
This could be avoided only by raising the temperature at the out- 
* Reprinted from the Journal of the American Chemical Society. Vol. 30, 
p. 872. May, 1908. 
1908] 
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