2 
PINUS ALBICAULIS 
divergent, 2 to 3 inches long, ovoid in outline, oblique at the base, of a reddish-brown colour, very 
smooth and free from resin. They are composed of scales which are thick and woody, and of the same 
felt-like texture as the cones of the Cembra and most Silver Firs; the apophyses project in flattened 
cones of considerable length, sometimes terminating in knobs; the umbo is small, terminating in a point, 
but has no spine. The seeds (fig. 4) are wingless, or nearly so; when mature they are oval in form, the 
size of large peas, and their flavour is agreeable. 
Dr. Newberry mentions that the cones were so-rare, that although constantly among the trees, and on 
the outlook himself, he for long failed to find a single good cone, and he had for two weeks an offer open 
to all his party of a dollar for one, without any one being able to claim the reward. Fragments of cones 
recent or of other years were under every tree, but they had been most carefully sought and torn up by the 
little pine squirrels for the sake of the kernel. v At the end of two weeks’ search, a smile of fortune led him 
where his wants were fully supplied. It is curious enough that similar difficulty was experienced by Dr. 
Lyall when exploring the Cascades on the North American Boundary Commission; and we happen to 
know that of the cones of this species sent home by Jeffrey, scarcely a good well-formed cone was to be 
found : they were almost all injured or bent to one side. 
Geographical Distribution. —It was met with on Mount Shasta in North California, lat. 4 i° 354 
growing on granite rocks, at an elevation of 8000 to 9000 feet, and in the same locality more lately by Sir 
Joseph Hooker and Dr. Asa Gray. It was also found by Dr. Newberry in the passes of the Cascade 
Mountains, about lat. 44 0 north. He says that his party crossed the mountains several times at an altitude 
of about 7000 feet (the line of perpetual snow). After reaching an altitude of 5500 feet, among the Firs 
and Spruces, which cover the mountains’ sides, Pines of a species then quite new to him began to appear. 
As they ascended they left behind them Abies Menziesii and A. Douglasii , Picea grandis and P. amabilis, 
which grew luxuriantly below; and at the height of 6500 feet found the scattered clusters of trees to be 
composed of nearly equal numbers of this species of Pine and of the beautiful Spruce A. Hookeriana, 
which, in ignorance that it had been previously described, Dr. Newberry named A. Williamsoni. Still 
higher, at the extreme limit of vegetation, the bleak and barren surfaces were held by this Pine in 
possession undisputed by other trees, but opposed by the rigours of a climate which had bowed it to the 
ground, forcing it to grow in thick and tangled masses scarcely rising above the surface; the trunks, some¬ 
times of considerable size, creeping about among the rocks like roots. 
It is, we imagine, to this species that Dr. Lyall refers when he speaks of P. flexilis being found by 
the North American Boundary Commission on the Cascade Mountains. He says: “ P. flexilis was 
first observed by us near the eastern summit of the Cascade Mountains, about 7000 feet above the sea, 
when it was found as the highest tree of the forest belt growing amongst rocks and granite debris, exposed 
to the full force of the storms which so frequently sweep over this elevated region. Here it was quite 
stunted and shrubby in its habit. The trunk of the largest seen in this situation was about 15 feet high, 
bulging out a little for a foot or so above the ground, and tapering pretty rapidly, and spreading out at the 
top into a number of thickish branches. 
“No cones of this tree could be found on the Cascades. In the following year, however, they were 
procured both on the Galton and Rocky Mountains in great plenty, but unfortunately all too young for the 
seed to be of any use. The seed, which is about the size of a pea, is sweet and palatable, and is eaten 
by the Indians. This tree was found growing on the Rocky Mountains at an elevation of 8000 feet” 
(Lyall in “ Journ. Linn. Soc.,” vii. p. 142, 1864). 
Dr. Engelmann quotes Dr. Lyall’s habitat as belonging to the true P. flexilis ; but its being found on 
the Cascade as well as on the more northern part of the Rocky Mountains, together with its small size, 
creeping habit, and small size of the seeds (the only points noticed), would in themselves lead us to think 
that it more properly belongs to the Cascade Mountains form of flexilis ,—that is, P. albicaulis —but we 
have 
