114 



PINACEiE. 



in which it is found. It is a very variable Pine, both in the size and 

 disposition of its leaves, cones, and branches, and, also, in its stature 

 and dimensions, according to the soils or climates in which it is grown. 

 Its leaves are from a quarter of an inch to four inches long, light or 

 dark green in colour, generally two in a sheath, sometimes three, rarely 

 five, exceptionally singly ; cones from two to four inches long, and 

 from one to two inches broad at swell ; glossy, and yellowish-brown in 

 colour; branches irregularly disposed, some very twisted, some com- 

 paratively straight, some horizontal, some drooping. The bark at first 

 and on the young shoots is of a fine violet colour, with a glaucous 

 bloom, or yellowish-green, when old rough and rustic, and very dark 

 and resinous. It attains heights of from twenty-five to fifty feet, and 

 was introduced into this country from N^orth America about a century 

 and a quarter ago ; it is hardy, distinct, and inelegant, and useful only 

 as a distinct Pine to relieve the dull monotony of so many of the 

 quasi-species of the Pines. There are several forms of it amongst 

 us, which, as an interesting ornamental plant, or Pine curiosity, 

 may be mentioned : — Procumbens^ a kind not growing erect, but 

 forming a trunk stem furnished with lateral branches, and crawling, as 

 it were, along the surface of the ground ; and Lceocarim, the smooth- 

 coned poor pine. 



PiNUS INSIGNIS : The Ptemarkable Pine. 



This was introduced from California, by Douglas, in 1833. It is 

 very appropriately named, for it is indeed a remarkable and very dis- 

 tinct Pine : attaining heights of from fifty to one hundred feet ; 

 feathered to the ground with branches, which are clothed with deep 

 grassy-green foliage. 



Leaves, irregularly disposed, but very thickly set on the 

 branches, from one-and-a-half to seven inches long, generally in threes 

 or fives, but frequently found in fours, sevens, nines, and sometimes 

 more in a sheath ; and not unfrequently in bundles or clusters, while 

 many of them are minus sheaths, and growing singly upon the branch 

 stem, without footstalks, and broad at base, and tapering to a sharp 

 apex. 



Cones, ovate, but tapering, and much pointed at apex, from two 

 to four inches long, and from one-and-a-half to two-and-a-half inches 

 broad ; at first yellowish-green, when ripe of a pale yeUowish-brown, 

 hard, smooth, and glossy, having the scales somewhat radiated, thick 

 at base, tapering to a four-sided blunt apex, with a centre scar and 

 short spine at point. The seeds are comparatively middle-sized Pine 



