9 8 



FLORA AND SYLVA. 



wider distribution of this valuable tree might be expected. The Swiss Pine 

 loves especially the northern and south-eastern slopes of the mountains. One 

 often sees it on the furthest ridge of the mountain, occupying some crag of more 

 than usual prominence, bidding defiance to storm, and one asks one's self how 

 it came to be there. On the sunny slopes of the mountain it is seldom seen, the 

 light soil and continual drought being unfavourable to its young growth. The 

 seedling trees require no protection, though some protection is always desirable. 

 It seeds and grows best among the alpine Roses and dwarf Firs, under the bushy 

 branches of which it finds the richness and the humidity of soil it likes. The 

 young tree flourishes as well under the shade of the parent tree as away from it. 

 It is mostly met with singly and in groups or in association with Larch, Fir, or 

 Pine. Its growth is very slow at first, and in its eighth year it is scarcely 15 

 inches in height ; but, on the other hand, the growth is regular and continuous. 

 In its earliest youth it forms a branchy, closely-set stem, and it seldom exceeds 

 65 feet in height, even at maturity, but, on the other hand, is of remarkable 

 girth. The bark of the sapling is brown and supple, and of the old tree dark 

 brown and strongly marked with horizontal rings, which give the tree a dis- 

 tinct appearance. The development of a second leading shoot is usual, and 

 in the old trees it is quite common to see more than one head. The form of 

 the crown is singularly handsome, and the branching is regular. The flat, 

 spreading, or one-sided head is not seen in the Swiss Pine. The annual growths 

 are not only apparent on the inside of the crowns on the whorls, but also on the 

 outside at the points of the branches, which are erect and very regular. This 

 gives the crown at maturity its blunt cone shape, as, although the head is formed 

 of more than one branch, the growth of these branches is perpendicular and 

 almost equal. At the ends of the slightly upturned branches the foliage forms 

 in tufts of five about the twig, and, like the branches, has an upward turn. A 

 single leaf measures from 2 to 31 inches long, and is three-ribbed in form, one 

 of the ribs being green and shining and the other two whitish, which imparts 

 to the tree its glaucous tones. The foliage is very thick, and on the crown, owing 

 to the shortness of the annual growths, which gives it a crowded look, almost 

 impenetrable to the eye. 



Maturity in the Swiss Pine comes late, and trees between fifty and sixty years 

 old do not always bear fruit. The buds on the male tree appear in number 



from two to seven red catkins at the tips of the young shoots. 



In the female tree the catkins are pale yellow, with stalks and 

 scales, in twos and threes at the end of the branch, and, owing to the bleakness 

 of the natural habitat of the tree, their earliest appearance is late in the spring, 

 but for the most part not before June. By autumn they will have changed to 

 brown-coloured cones about the size of a walnut. The second year the cones 

 are not ripe until about the end of October, after which they assume a nearly 



