THE YELLOW PINE 
103 
distinctlarge-conedformisencountered 
\XY pe7ii7isiilaris. Though a smaller tree 
than ponderosa^ at its greatest it attains 
a height of 100 to nearly 200 feet, 
making a massive trunk covered with 
darker red bark, more finely divided into 
irregular plates. It is characterised by 
more pungently aromatic juices, stiffer 
and more elastic leaves which vary in 
length from 4 to 9 inches, and are more 
persistent than 'm ponderosa itself. The 
seeds also are much larger, measuring 
sometimes nearly half-an-inch and pro- 
duced by short-stalked purple cones of 
5 to 12 inches, armed with prickles that 
are hooked backwards. The wood is 
coarser-grained, very resinous, light 
yellow in colour, with a thin layer of 
pale yellow or nearly white sap-wood. 
This is often considered the best form 
of all for beauty, health, and general 
effect. 
P. Ponderosa var. Scopularum. — -A 
form known as the Yellow Pine of Ne- 
braska or Colorado, growing as a small 
tree of spire-like outline, with black or 
bright-red bark, deeply furrowed and 
broken into large scaly plates. The 
foliage is tufted and scanty, composed 
of rigid leaves 3 to 6 inches long, and 
arranged in clusters of two or three 
together. Cones green and small, grey- 
ish-brown when ripe, usually only 2 
inches long (rarely as much as 4 inches) 
and covered with slender prickles hook- 
ing backwards. The wood is coarse- 
grained, very hard, brittle, and resinous. 
This form is a common tree of the 
mountain forests of the Black Hills of 
South Dakota, extending thence to the 
mountains of Wyoming and eastern 
Montana. On the high plateau of Color- 
ado it forms one of the most extensive 
pine-forests of the continent, and exists 
in other parts of the same state as open 
stunted forest, in company with Nut 
Pine, juniper, and Douglas Spruce, 
rising to elevations of 6,000 to 10,000 
feet. This variety is also fairly frequent 
in parts of Utah, Texas, New Mexico, 
and Arizona. 
P. PoNDEROsA var. Mayriana. — Dif- 
fers from the northern forms of ponder- 
osa in its much longerand broader leaves, 
which at times reach a length of 14 
or 15 inches, and a breadth of one- 
sixteenth of an inch. Its cones also are 
oblique in shape from the markedly 
greater development of the scales upon 
the upper side. This variety forms a 
large part of the mountain forests of 
southern Arizona, the individual trees 
rarely rising much above medium height . 
Its wood is soft, brittle, and of light 
red-brown colour, traversed by broad 
dark bands of small highly-resinous 
summer-cells and resin-passages, and 
by obscure medullary rays, the whole 
enclosed in a layer of thick, pale sap- 
wood. Towards the south it merges 
gradually into var. pe?7i7isiilaris. 
In the same mountains of southern 
Arizona there occurs yet another form 
(probably the Piniis Apacheca of Lim- 
mon). Its leaves are slender and vari- 
able in length, but usually 12 to 14 
inclies,and arranged in clusters normally 
of three, but occasionally of four or five 
together. Its cones of 3 to 5 inches are 
also variable, and very characteristic in 
their thickened scales terminating in 
raised projections armed with straight. 
