2 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



level of the sea, the lowest about 34 J ft., and the sea is distant about 

 56 miles towards the north and about 62 miles towards the east. 

 Climate is of inland character and not at all maritime. Winter 

 temperatures may touch zero, or in exceptional winters there may 

 be no more than 10 or 12 degrees of frost. 



References in this paper are limited to the most important trees, 

 and to those most likely to be useful. The descriptive notes are long 

 or short, according to probable utility in each case. 



Group I — The Unique and the Most Important. 



1. Pinus Gerardiana Wall. (Elwes and Henry * v. 1052). (Fig. 1.) 

 This is by far the most important tree of its genus in the Garden. 



It is very much larger than most other examples, but there are two 

 larger, one in the late Lord Ardilaun's garden at St. Anne's, near 

 Dublin, which, in 1903, was 25 ft. high ; and another at Graf rath, 

 near Munich, which in 1910 was 20 ft. high. The present tree is now 

 17 ft. 8 in. in height and 14 ft. through. It has grown 3 ft. 6 in. in 

 height during the last four years. It is the only good specimen in 

 England. 



It is native of the Western Himalayas, and occurs also in the 

 mountains of Baluchistan, Northern Afghanistan, Kafiristan, and 

 in the Hariab district. The tree is very valuable on account of its 

 edible seeds, which are an article of food in the Himalayas, and are 

 largely imported to the plains of India from the hills of the Punjab 

 and Afghanistan. They have only a slight flavour of turpentine, and 

 are eaten roasted at dessert by Europeans. It is hardly ever felled, 

 but the wood is tough and is used for the hook supporting the 

 passenger's seat on the native rope bridges. It is spoken of by 

 Aitchison as a very handsome tree, branching more like an Oak than 

 a Pine, and readily distinguished at a distance by its ashy-grey bark, 

 which, on close examination, consists of patches of all tints from light 

 green to red and brown, due to the peculiar way in which it exfoliates. 

 In this feature it is precisely similar to Plane. It is one of the two 

 Plane-bark Pines, the other being P. Bungeana. Both are three- 

 leaved Pines. Of P. Gerardiana the basal sheaths are deciduous in 

 the second year, of P. Bungeana in the first year. 



2. Pinus Montana var. uncinata Willkomm {Elwes and Henry , 

 v. 1128 ; Gard. Chron. xxii. (1884), p. 208, fig. 48). 



This tree has been of great interest to Professor Henry. By 

 Elwes and Henry P. montana is treated as a collective species, and 

 they do not appear to point out a type. It includes two tree forms, 

 the present from 30 to 50 ft. high, with another about 30 ft. high ; 

 and two dwarf forms, each about 6 ft. high. These are the well- 

 known P. Pumilio and P. Mtighus, both represented in the Garden 



* The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland, by H. J. Elwes and Dr. A. Henry, 

 is referred to here and elsewhere by the authors' names. 



