4 
PINETUM BRITANNICUM. 
Garden at Chiswick (which was presented to the Society by Lord Aberdeen from the plants raised from 
the seeds he brought to England), we can see little if any difference in this country. 
Var. Lemoniana .—The variety Lemoniana was named by Dr Lindley after Sir Charles Lemon, 
who found it growing in his plantations (we presume at his place, Carclew, in Cornwall), and who 
was struck by its apparent difference from the Pinaster in some respe&s, notwithstanding its close re¬ 
semblance to them in others. In November 1833 he communicated an account of it to the Horticultural 
Society, in whose Transactions it was published (2d ser., vol. i. p. 509, 1835). From that paper it 
appears that he had shewn specimens of the Fir to Dr Lindley, Mr Lambert, and Mr Don, and that 
these gentlemen were of opinion that it was a variety of Pinaster , perhaps accidental, but at most a per¬ 
manent variety, induced by circumstances of climate and soil. In that opinion he at first seems to have 
acquiesced, but afterwards came to doubt it, in consequence of his having subsequently observed some 
hundreds of specimens, and found in each an unbroken constancy of character, which appeared to him 
inconsistent with the hypothesis of accident or modification; and, looking upon it as a botanical 
problem of some interest, which it undoubtedly is, he brought it under the notice of botanists and 
arboriculturists in general in the paper in question. He suggested, but does not seem to have had 
much faith in the idea, that by means of the constant communication between Falmouth and distant 
parts of the world, seeds might have been brought from abroad and raised indiscriminately with the 
Pinaster by some nurserymen, who may have supplied the planters of the neighbourhood; but, as he 
says, it is still difficult to imagine that any species so accessible should have escaped the observation of 
botanists and yet remained undescribed. 
The leading characters of the specimens which puzzled Sir Charles consisted in the form and 
position of the cone, and the effects on the growth of the tree resulting from that position. Compared 
with the common Pinaster , to 
which Sir Charles and every one 
else admit it to be allied, the 
cone is smaller, more ovate, taper¬ 
ing but little towards the base, and 
having moderate - sized unarmed 
scales, with shallow furrows be¬ 
tween them. The woodcut [fig. 
21] is a copy of Sir Charles’s re¬ 
presentation of the cone and its 
position, which latter he considers 
a still more striking distinction. In 
the common Pinaster the cones, of 
which there are almost always sev¬ 
eral, are situated behind the shoots 
of the whorl, and in a mature state 
point backwards. In the variety 
Lemoniana , on the contrary, the cone is single, and it as universally occupies the place of the leading 
shoot, the lateral shoots being behind it, but not immediately or closely behind it. The necessary conse¬ 
quence of this is what Sir Charles points out, namely, that the tree can have no regular leader, but each 
year one of the side shoots strengthens and continues the growth for the ensuing season. The follow¬ 
ing year the same process is repeated in another direction, a new axis of growth is formed, and the stem 
of the tree acquires a zigzag appearance, which is never entirely lost, though of course more or less 
obliterated by age. 
The general appearance of Lemoniana is that of a short bushy Pinaster , with a zig-zag stem, and the 
branches 
Fig. 21. 
Var. Lemoniana —copied from original plate. 
