100 



and even on the same tree they may be found in bud-like clusters or 

 bundles, each containing various numbers of leaves ; their seed-leaves 

 are also very variable in number. 



Cones, of various sizes, ranging from less than an inch to over 

 a foot in length, and from half an inch to six inches broad ; they are 

 also variously formed : conical, cylindrical, oblong, or roundish and 

 ligneous ; scales numerous and imbricated ; the seeds being somewhat 

 oval in form, having hard, bony shells, and farinaceous albuminous 

 kernels ; in some species winged, and in some they are wingless. 



This is the most numerous in species and quasi-species, and amongst 

 themselves as a family or S.D., excepting perhaps Cupressinece. 

 the most apparently dissimilar yet cognate group of Pinacese. 

 In their native habitats they have a wide range, for they are to be 

 found north and south, east and west ; at all altitudes, high and low ; 

 in all kinds of situations, from the most warm and sheltered to the 

 most cold and exposed. JN^ot unfrequently, a particular or given 

 species may be found in some particular part of the wwld, where, 

 under conditions favourable to its healthy growth and full develop- 

 ment, it may attain heights of from one hundred to two hundred feet; 

 whereas, when found in other parts, and under conditions uncongenial 

 to its healthy growth and full development, the very same species may 

 be discovered struggling for existence ; making, it may be, all but 

 imperceptible annual growth. Yet, even under such adverse circum- 

 stances, by indomitable perseverance for many years, it may reach a 

 good old age, though from the hardships it has to undergo it may be 

 reduced to a sprawling, scrubby bush ; while, had fate or fortune given 

 it a place in some more favoured clime, a richer or more congenial soil 

 and situation, it might have formed in the same number of years a 

 handsome and majestic pine. This fact is one of the chief causes 

 which have led inexperienced tree-collectors to send home so many 

 said-to-be new species of pines, and coupled with the equally patent 

 one — the present endeavour to send out some 'Tine ISTew Conifer," to 

 which too many unscrupulous plant vendors have lately been in the 

 habit of resorting, and encouraged by the high encomium of some 

 botanic pedant, or the ''first-class certificate" of some wise savans, who 

 know much about pinks and peas, but little if anything about firs 

 and pines ; and the sine qua non a good sale for the " Fine Is^ew 

 Pine," may in some measure account for the sad lack of precision 

 ivherewith the species of this genus are at present found named and 

 described. 



