PINUS LARICIO 
3 
is propagated constantly to their descendants, and is of some practical value. We, therefore, consider that 
they may be regarded as at least sub-species. The principle which induces us to treat the Deodar (see 
infra ) as distinct from the Cedar, applies also here. 
The differences by which characteristic specimens of these forms may be distinguished from each other, 
are the following: Taking the normal P. Laricio as the type of the whole of the Laricio forms, then P . L. 
var. Pyrenaica may be said to be an offshoot in one direction, having the leaves longer and more slender, and 
somewhat falling back, while P. austriaca (including Pallasiana) is an offshoot in another, having the leaves 
shorter and more rigid, more numerous, and of a darker green, and standing bristling straight out. The 
cone of Laricio is generally smaller and less tumid than austriaca , while that of Pallasiana is larger, longer, 
straighter, and more like the Pinaster than austriaca . T he prickle on the scales of the cone is stronger 
and more persistent in Pallasiana and austriaca than in the Corsican Laricio and Pyrenean variety. 
The habit and form of the trees is another character by which to distinguish them. The branches as 
well as the leaves of P. austriaca are much more numerous and upright-growing, so that it makes a 
narrower and closer tree than Laricio proper. Pallasiana , again, is a still broader-growing tree, the branches 
springing from near the ground, and spreading out so as to give it the appearance of a broad compact 
pyramid. The variety Pyrenaica , on the other hand, when growing alone is more like Laricio ; although 
in its native mountains it is bare until near the top, leaving only a tufted summit somewhat in the fashion 
of P. Pinea —a character probably due to their having been crowded in their youth. 
The variety which grows in Calabria, Pinus Calabrica, is more cylindrically conic, its branches more 
upright, and, as it were, adpressed to the stem, forming a narrower and more compact head, looking, in 
general, more like a Cembra . In plantations of this variety there are usually a great number of trees with 
two or more leaders. This may be due to the more upright direction of the branches above alluded to. 
This variety was named Calabrica by Tenore, and stricta by Carriere and other horticulturists. M. 
Carriere doubts whether it may not in fact be a distinct species. “ This form, perhaps indeed this species,” 
says he, “ is very constant in its reproduction, and among the individuals of which I have spoken, none has 
wandered from the characters above mentioned.” But we find Professor Schouw observing no such differ¬ 
ence; he says ( Annal'. Sc. Nat., loc . cit.), “ The variety called Calabrica by Tenore, of which I obtained 
specimens from the Botanic Garden at Naples, perfectly corresponds with Duhamel’s figure, and with the 
great tree of this species ( Laricio ) in the Garden of Plants, at Paris.” Pinus Heldreichn and Pinus FenzIn, 
Antoine and Kotschy, are synonyms of a variety of Calabrica. 
There is another tree, however, which Endlicher and all subsequent writers have agreed in ranking as 
a variety of Laricio , but the identity of which, with it, seems to us more questionable—viz., a shrubby alpine 
form, which Schouw found on the highest region of Mount Amaro, the loftiest peak of the Majella (a part 
of the Apennines in Abruzzo Citeriore, in the latitude of Rome, but on the Adriatic side of Italy). He 
described it provisionally under the name of Pinus Magellensis. It appeared to him to be different from 
the Alpine Pumilio , and to be either an Alpine form of Laricio , or rather a species bearing the same 
relation to that species that P. Pumilio does to P. sylvestris. Like Pumilio it has its branches curved down, 
and lying flat upon the ground, with stiff, slightly curved, serrated leaves ; its cone is spherical, and still 
smaller than that of Pumilio; three leaves are, moreover, often found in the sheath ; a thing which sometimes 
occurs in Laricio , but that is a circumstance of variation to which we do not attach any value ; and lastly, it 
differs from P. Pumilio in having the integuments of its leaf-buds very large, membranous, black at the 
base, and remaining some time after the leaves are developed. In that it is more like Laricio; but then the 
leaf-bud is not pencil-shaped as in Laricio: on the contrary, it is very obtuse, which makes it difficult to 
refer it to that species. At the same time, Schouw mentions that he had received a specimen of Laricio 
from the same mountain (Valle del Ofrenta), given him by Gussone, which had cones smaller than usual, 
and short, stiff, slightly curved leaves. He found another shrubby Pine (without cones) on the top of 
Mount Pollino, in Calabria, which he was in doubt whether to refer to P. Pumilio or his P. Magellensis. 
The two would thus appear to be very close, which rather throws doubt on the latter belonging to Laricio. 
A 2 Geographical 
