62 WOODY PLANTS OF MASSACHUSETTS. 
side. In trees of not over 25 or 30 feet, the roots do not penetrate 
more than 15 or 18 inches. They are covered with a reddish 
or greyish, sulphur-colored bark, broken on the surface into 
irregular rectangular scales. The wand-like rootlets, which 
are few in number, are very pliant and tough. ‘The roots in 
old trees swell and project above the surface, forming natural 
buttresses on every side, for the support of the trunk. The bark 
on trees less than fifteen inches in diameter is very smooth, of a 
reddish bottle-green, covered, in summer, with an ashy or 
pearly gloss. On old trunks, it is less rough than that of any 
other pine. It is cleft by superficial vertical clefts into long 
plates two or three inches wide, which become more rough on 
the older trees, but do not scale off. The branches are in whorls 
or regular stages of about five at each stage, tending slightly 
upwards when young, but in old trees horizontal. In the for- 
ests all but the upper branches decay and disappear, and these, 
stretching out over the tops of the other trees, are conspicuous, 
and help to distinguish the white pines as far as they can be 
seen. ‘I'he smaller branches are marked with spiral lines of the 
cicatrices of the fallen leaves. A single large bud, encircled by 
about five smaller ones, terminates each branch. The lcaves 
are in fives, of a soft bluish green, slender, and from three to 
five inches long, arranged spirally in long tufts at the ends of 
all the branches, and giving great beauty to the young trees. 
On the extremity of the newly opened buds, on the ends of 
the uppermost branches, are found the fertile flowers in erect 
cones, which, in June, at the time of the maturity of the stami- 
nate cone, are 3-l0ths of an inch long, and half as broad, on 
scaly footstalks, 7-1l0ths of an inch long. These cones are 
made up of small, broad, fleshy scales, imbricately arranged in 
spirals. Outside the base of each is a thin, membranous, ragged 
scale, and within, near the base, two oblique openings, marked 
by a slight projection. These lead to cavities containing the 
ovule or future seed. There are neither styles nor stigmas, 
and the naked ovule is supposed to be fecundated by the 
fertilizing pollen coming directly in contact with it. At the 
end of one season, the cones are two or three inches long, of a 
fresh green, reflexed, on stout footstalks. In the succeeding 
