PINUS ALBICAULIS 
3 
have had, moreover, the opportunity of examining Dr. Lyall’s specimens themselves in Kew Herbarium, 
and find them identical with those of the present species sent home by Jeffrey. 
Dr. Lyall refers them to the P. flexilis of Torrey, and notes specimens of another species of which he 
procured the leaves, but not the cones, as probably the P. Cembroides of Newberry, but this seems to be 
an error. The latter is doubtless P. aristata, with which its foliage in all respects corresponds. 
Dr. Engelmann, in the “ Botany of California,” says that this is only an alpine form of flexilis , 
occupying a higher belt on the mountains, and marked by its short, thick, and thick-scaled cones. 
History .—This species was first found by Jeffrey, the Collector of the Edinburgh Oregon Botanical 
Association. He sent seeds and specimens home in 1851. They were unknown to the Committee, and 
after a consultation between the best authorities in Edinburgh and London, they arrived at the conclusion 
that they belonged to P.flexilis of James and Nuttal. This, however, seems to have been an error, for, 
although nearly allied, the two species appear to be distinct, the flexilis of James having the cones pendent 
or semi-pendent, and 4 or 5 inches long, while in this species they are erect, and only 2 inches long. This 
species also differs in having the branches pubescent, a few scattered teeth on the edges of the leaves, and 
by having short oval cones with thick squamose scales sometimes pointed with a knob, and lastly by the 
colour of the bark of the tree, which Dr. Newberry describes as white as milk, from which character Dr. 
Engelmann originally proposed for it the name of albicaulis. 
Dr. Newberry, who next after Jeffrey met with the present species, found that his description agreed 
well with that of his tree, except that he did not mention the white bark. He came to the conclusion, 
however, that it was not the P. flexilis of J ames, and he recorded it under the name of P. Cembroides , 
supposing it to be the tree so named by Zuccarini—a supposition, however, solely based on conjecture from 
the name itself, for he mentions that he had not seen Zuccarini’s description. His reference is “ Cembroides , 
Zucc. Journ. Hort. Soc.” i. 236. That reference belongs to Gordon, not to Zuccarini. The description 
by the latter is given to the “ Flora,” 1832. And if it is Gordon’s Cembroides that Newberry really refers 
to, there is not the slightest question that it is different from this species. This is of the Cembra type, with 
felt-like surface. Gordon’s (see woodcut in P. Cembroides ) is with a hard, somewhat glossy apophysis, and 
has no relation to Cembra , and it is apparent that the same is the case with Zuccarini’s, the cone of which 
is described by him as with “ strobilis sub-globosis, squamis (seminiferis) basi concavis coriaceis apicem 
versus induratis recurvis rhombeo vel pentagono umbonatis ”—that is, with sub-globose cones, and with the 
scales (seed-bearing) hollow at the base, with the apophysis coriaceous, hardened, recurved, and with a 
rhomboidal or pentagonal umbo—a description perfectly applicable to the P. edulis , but not to any member 
of the Cembra section. Zuccarini applied the name “ Cembroides” (Cembra-like) to it—not on account of 
general similarity, but on account of resemblance in a single point—viz., “ Das gefuge der Zapfenschuppen 
ist ganz dem von P. Cembra ahnlich und veranlasste mich desshalb zu dem trivialnamen P. Cembroides ” 
(Zuccar. in “Flora,” 1832, ii. 93). “The groove of the scales of the cone is wholly similar to that of 
P. Cembra , and suggested to me on that account the trivial name P. Cembroides .” He had already 
in the description specially mentioned the groove or concavity of those of the scales which were 
seed-bearing—a deep hollow in which, in P. Cembra and all the Nut Pines, the seed is ensconced. 
Zuccarini, having never seen that peculiarity in any but P. Cembra , naturally thought it a remarkable 
character, but it is not a character confined to Cembra. It occurs in all the sections of Pines where the 
seeds are large. 
Dr. Engelmann having afterwards received specimens of the tru z P. flexilis, gave (loc. cit.) a more 
accurate description than had previously been done of that species, and pointed out the differences between 
it and the present species ; and as the name Cembroides given to the latter by Dr. Newberry could not 
stand, he gave it the name ( albicaulis) which we have adopted. In his more recent monographs, however, 
Engelmann refers the plant as a variety to P. flexilis. 
A 2 
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Properties 
