4 
PINUS ARISTATA 
were thirty of his people in the party, two of whom were its instigators, seeking revenge for the death 
of their father, who, they said, had been killed by emigrants but a few days before.” * 
This sad termination to Captain Gunnison’s command gives a melancholy interest to the discoveries 
made in its course by him and Mr. Creutzfeldt, who was also one of those murdered on the same occasion, 
and one of those discoveries certainly was the present species, P. aristata, although, as in Captain 
Fremont’s case, the specimens, not being in fruit, were insufficient to allow it to be described. Among the 
specimens collected by Mr. Creutzfeldt were some of a Fir obtained at the highest places on the Cooche- 
topa. It is thus noticed in the Botanical Report by Torrey and Gray, appended to Lieutenant Beckwith’s 
“ Report of Captain Gunnison’s Exploration : ”—“ Pinus (undetermined), apparently between P. flexilis 
of James and P. Strobus. Leaves in fives, about an inch and a half long, besmeared with a clear, 
colourless balsam. For want of the cones it cannot be satisfactorily determined. Perhaps it belongs to 
that section of the genus which includes P. edulis •(Eng.) and P. monophylla (Torr.).” 
Practically speaking, however, although thus twice discovered, it was still unknown when Dr. Parry 
at last, in 1861 and 1862, obtained specimens in fruit on Pike’s Peak and other high mountains of the 
Snowy Range. Messrs. Hall and Harbour in 1862 also collected it, and Dr. Parry and Dr. Engelmann 
made it known to men of science. A few cones and seeds, which must, doubtless, have been collected by 
some members of the parties in 1861 or 1862, found their way to Britain, and were sold by auction in 
London, where they brought high prices, more for herbarium specimens than for sowing and growing. 
We have not heard whether any have germinated in this country. 
/ 
This species is possessed of peculiar interest from its close affinity to one or two very similar Mexican 
species found by Roezl on the highest peaks of the Mexican mountains. These are not yet described, but 
have been known to us for a number of years, and quite correspond in the most remarkable features of P. 
aristata —the shape, texture, and colour of its cone, and its short and dense leaves, &c.—this affinity being 
unquestionably an evidence that the line of the Rocky Mountains was the route by which this species at 
the close of the glacial epoch found its way so far away from its nearest allies. 
Properties and Uses .—Of course, not much is known on this subject; but we learn from Dr. Parry 
that the wood is white, tough, not very resinous ; of extremely slow growth, so that a small, smooth, barked 
stem of 13 lines diameter exhibited about 50 annual rings, all between \ and ^ line wide, the smaller ones 
consisting of 3.6, the widest ones of 15.25 layers of cells, each cell 0.007 line in diameter. A tree of 2 feet 
thickness would at that rate indicate an age of over 1000 years ; but the annual rings of larger trees growing 
in less favoured situations are wider, and, if a specimen sent by Dr. Parry be not wrongly labelled, some¬ 
times as wide as g line, giving the largest trees a probable age of 500 to 800 years. 
Culture.-*— Nothing is known on this subject beyond what common sense would dictate. A plant 
from the highest peak of the Rocky Mountains will, of course, be better adapted to the highlands of 
Scotland than the fields of Kent. The ordinary treatment of alpine plants would seem to be what is best 
fitted for its young days. 
Commercial Statistics .—The price obtained at the public sale of the cones and seeds above referred 
to was as high as a guinea for one or two empty cones. Young plants can scarcely be said to be in the 
market. 
* United States Pacific Railroad Exploration, vol. ii. p. 76. 
