﻿Nov., 1856.] 



ELLIOTT SOCIETY. 



53 



As Walter's Pine should now take its place in our Flora again, 

 from which it has been so long- excluded, I give a brief description, 

 which will serve to identify it hereafter. 



Pinus glabra — Walter. Trunk forty to sixty feet high, with a 

 diameter of twelve to eighteen inches, much disposed to branch 

 near the ground. Bark more resembling the Oaks than any of our 

 Pines. Branches and upper parts of the tree smooth and whitish. 

 Leaves three to four inches long, united by pairs in the sheath, not 

 so numerous or densely clustered as in P. mitis. Cones small, 

 generally solitary, about two inches long, somewhat cylindrical, 

 with small, nearly obsolete spines near the summit of the scales. 

 Membranaceous wings of the seed lighter coloured, more tapering, 

 longer and less gibbous than those of P. mitis. The wood of this 

 tree is soft and white; and is known about the country as "Spruce 

 Pine." Its habitat, as far as I know, is quite limited. I have 

 seen a few trees in the neighborhood of Black Oak on the Santee 

 Canal, growing in close rich soils, and also in the Santee swamp, 

 at Vance's Ferry, but no where in sufficient numbers to give a 

 character to the forrests as our other pines do. 



EUPHORBIACEJE. 



Stillingia sebifera — Tallow tree of China. This tree is now 

 naturalized, and from its hardy habits, will probably continue 

 among us. It should, therefore, have a place in our Flora. Grows 

 along the road side and old banks near Charleston, and higher up 

 in the country. 



On a late visit which I made to Walter's former residence on 

 the banks of the Santee, in St. John's Parish, I found two clusters 

 of this tree, bearing the marks of age. They, with one or two 

 other things, were the only memorials left of his Botanical garden. 

 The present trees, one of which has attained a height of about 

 thirty feet, are off-shoots from a half decayed stump of at least one 

 foot in diameter. That he was familiar with this plant, is evident, 

 from an allusion which he makes to it in the preface to his Flora 

 Carolmiana. For seventy years they have survived the want of 

 culture, and resisted the inroads of the surrounding native vegeta- 

 tion • and may, therefore, lay claim to full and complete accli- 

 mation. 



In the midst of this grove, there stands a solitary grave stone, 

 marking the last resting place of this early pioneer of American 

 Science. It is a plain marble slab, and bears this simple record of 

 filial love : 



