373 



THE STONE PINE. 



PINUS PINEA. 



This is the Pine of Italy and the Tyrol, much 

 prized for its nuts even in Pliny's time, who says 

 that it bore at the same time ripening fruit, fruit 

 destined to be matured the next year, as well as 

 in that which followed. He adds that ripe ones 

 might be gathered at all seasons. In its native 

 country it is described as a noble tree with a 

 towering stem, often exceeding a hundred feet in 

 height, and the Latin poets often celebrate it as 

 '^the vast Pine." It throws up a naked tapering 

 stem, and bears at its head an extended table-like 

 mass of branches, laden with a peculiarly rich 

 green foliage. Though introduced into Britain 

 so long ago as 1548, and far from uncommon in 

 collections, it rarely, if ever, assumes its native 

 character. Its usual form with us is a large dense 

 bush, leafy to the ground, having no main trunk, 

 but divided just above the roots into several 

 crooked branches, which often creep along the 

 ground to some distance before they begin to as- 

 cend. The leaves, which are long, grow in pairs ; 

 they are flat on the inner side and convex on the 

 outer, and when pressed together form a perfect 

 cylinder. 



Gilpin's description of it, therefore, applies 



