2 
PINUS COULTERI 
the young leaves at the end of the branchlets, about an inch in length, tapering and slightly bent, with a 
long stiff lanceolate fringed scale (fig. 4, a , b, c), at the base on the outside, the same as those at the base 
of the sheath of the leaves, and within this two smaller rounded broader membranaceous translucent scales. 
Stamens numerous, imbricated, spirally disposed., filament very short, expanding into the two loculi of the 
anther, open at the side and above, terminating in an expanded suborbicular membranous process with a 
subcrenulate margin. Cones very large, more than a foot in length, and half a foot in diameter, weighing 
about four pounds, conical oblong, with large hooked scales. The scales are wedge-shaped with an elon¬ 
gate lanceolate mucronate apex, compressed on both sides, sharp at the margins, obsoletely quadrangular 
in transverse section, incurved and hooked, very thick, hard, smooth, shining, fawn-coloured, from 1 to 3 
inches in length, the lower ones longer, deflexed, and spreading, very closely adherent to each other. 
Seeds brown, irregularly oval, or sometimes with the back nearly straight, from l to f of an inch in length, 
and | of an inch in breadth without the wing ; with the wing it is upwards of an inch in length. The wing 
is stiff, light brown, and nearly encloses the seed. The test or shell of the seed is hard, although not very 
thick, dark brown, and covered with a sort of yellowish-grey pulverescence. Cotyledons 10 or 11, irregularly 
trigonal in shape, very much compressed, almost pointed at the top, and broadly rounded at the base. 
Description. —A tree very nearly allied to P. Sabiniana, growing to the height of 80 or 100 feet, with 
large spreading branches, and a trunk 3 feet or 4 feet in diameter. It is perhaps of a straighter habit and 
of a less glaucous hue. It produces the largest, heaviest, and most beautiful cone of any known species. 
The cone is like that of P . Sabiniana , with the scales terminating in large recurved hooks, but it is larger, 
longer, and the hooks of the cones more prolonged. Good specimens are rarely to be seen in this 
country, the projecting hooks of the scales being usually broken and injured, either in gathering or in 
course of transit. Mr. W. Murray mentions that two magnificent specimens ornamented his drawing¬ 
room chimney-piece in San Francisco for a considerable time; and notwithstanding the occasional use 
of fires when these were needed, the cones never shewed the slightest indication of opening, but seemed as 
if carved out of a solid block of wood. Indeed, the common observation made by non-botanical visitors 
was what an exquisite piece of carving it was, the light colour like box-wood, and the sharply defined 
edges contributing to mislead those who had never heard or dreamed of Pine-tree cones larger than a 
man’s head. The cone of P. Sabiniana is, on the other hand, easily opened, the scales separating of their 
own accord. The seeds of the two species are the converse of what one would expect, the species with 
the smaller cone ( P. Sabiniana) having the largest seed. The cone takes about twenty months to come 
to maturity. In 1852 a tree in the Jardin des Plantes at Paris produced two cones in its eighteenth year. 
They grew at the top of the leading shoot, one dropped off, but the other remained, and at the end of the 
first season it measured about 3 inches in length, and I of an inch in diameter. At the end of the second 
season it had reached its full development, and was about 16 inches in length, by about 9 in diameter. 
We have not heard of cones being produced in Britain; but a tree in the Royal Horticultural Society’s 
Garden at Chiswick bore male catkins, from which the drawings of the male flower above given have 
been taken. 
Geographical Description. —It is found growing in company with P. Lambertiana on the mountains 
of Santa Lucia, near the Mission of San Antonio, in lat. 36° north, within sight of the sea, and at an 
elevation of from 3000 to 4000 feet above its level. This seems the northern limit of its range : how far, 
or whether it extends much farther south is not known. To the north of this district it is represented by 
P. Sabiniana. 
History. —It was first found by Dr. Coulter (after whom it was named by Don), in the district above 
mentioned, and its range has not been traced much farther since his time. 
Dr. 
