TABLE MOUNTAIN PINE. 
77 
of tar is obtained from the heart and consumed in the vicinity. I must 
again dissent from the opinion of Sir A. B. Lambert, who thinks that the 
flexible branches of the Jersey Pine might serve for hoops ; they are too 
knotty, and would decay in less than six months. Next to the Gray Pine,, 
this is the most uninteresting species of the United States. 
PLATE CXXXIX. 
A branch with a cone of the natural size. Fig. 1, A leaf. Fig. 2, A seed. 
TABLE MOUNTAIN PINE, 
Pintjs pungens. P. arbor 45-50 pedalis ; foliis binis, brevibus et crassis ; stro- 
bilis turbinatis, prcemagnis,flavis , squamis echinatis, spinis luteis , durissimis 
et basi latioribus. 
The Table Mountain, in North Carolina, one of the highest points of 
the Alleghanies, at the distance of nearly 300 miles from the sea, has given 
its name to this species of Pine, which covers it almost exclusively, though 
it is rare on the neighboring summits. Nor is it found in any other part 
of the United States, as my father and myself have become assured by 
extensive researches. Of all the forest trees of America this species alone 
is restricted to such narrow limits, and it will probably be among the first 
to become extinct, as the mountains which produce it are easy of access, 
are favored with a salubrious air and a fertile soil, and are rapidly peopling ; 
besides which, their forests are frequently ravaged by fire. 
The Table Mountain Pine is 40 or 50 feet in height with a proportional 
diameter. The buds are resinous, and the leaves, which grow in pairs, are 
thick, stiff, and about 2J inches in length. The cones are about 3 inches 
long and 2 inches in diameter at the base, of a regular form and a light 
yellow color: they are sessile, and often united to the number of four. 
