40 
BOTANY, 
or important, in a scientific or economical point of view, than the great Lambert pine. It does 
not rival that species in the immensity of its size, nor in its value for timber, but the form of 
the tree is peculiar, and quite unlike that of any other western pine which we saw, and the cones 
are considerably larger and more ponderous than that of any other species ; and, what is of 
more importance to the Indians, they contain such stores of eatable nuts as to become a staple 
article of subsistence in many extensive districts. 
The “ nut pine,” or, as it is sometimes called from the toughness of the wood, the “ wythe 
pine,” nowhere forms forests, but is disseminated very generally over California. It was found 
by our party in the valleys of the coast ranges, as far north as Fort Lane, in Oregon, though 
in the interior it does not occur on our route between Pit river and the Columbia. It chooses, 
in preference, regions unoccupied by other trees, and is generally found scattered sparsely over 
rough and rocky surfaces, where almost no other plant would take root. 
Douglas, and, copying him, Nuttall, give to this tree almost an alpine station, which does 
not at all accord with my observations. This was the first pine I saw in California, and we 
found it growing in Napa, Sonoma, and other valleys of the coast range, and on the borders 
and at the head of the Sacramento valley, but little above the level of tide water. Subsequently 
we met with it at various points in northern California, but never at any considerable altitude. 
On our route it occurred most abundantly in the pedregal country bordering Pit river, where 
that stream forces its way through the spur of the Sierra Nevada into the Sacramento valley ; 
a region which rivals, in the magnitude of its volcanic phenomena, the islands of Haiwaii or 
Sicily. It is covered with piled up masses or congealed floods of lava, which, rough, ragged, 
and bare, seem to bid defiance alike to the approaches of animal or vegetable life. Only here 
and there, in the crevices or hollows of the rocks, narrow and shallow accumulations of sterile 
soil had taken place, which sustained scarce any vegetable growth, except thickets of the ever¬ 
green manzanita and scattering trees of the nut pine ; both, however, doing their utmost to 
redeem the district from its hopeless sterility, by producing their berries and nuts in such 
profusion as to attract and feed large numbers of birds, bears, and Digget Indians. 
Nuttall unaccountably failed to see the nut pine in California, and, therefore, repeats without 
comment Douglas’ description of it. This is to be regretted, for Nuttall’s discriminating eye 
would at once have detected the discrepancies which exist between the tree as it grows and the 
published description of it. 
After speaking of its alpine habit, which our observations disprove, and of its range north¬ 
ward to the Blue mountains, on the upper Columbia, in which he was guided only by the nuts 
collected by the Indians, and probably misled by referring the nuts of the nut pine of that 
region to this tree, Douglas says : “The stems of these pines are of a very regular form, and 
grow straight and tapering to the height of 40 to 140 feet, and are from three to twelve feet in 
circumference, and, when standing apart, clothed with branches down to the ground.” 
An extract from my notes, with the accompanying sketch, (fig. 13,) taken when surrounded 
by these trees, will show what is the sort of P. sabiniana in all parts of California where we 
saw it. 
“ July 28.—To day saw great numbers of the nut pine, sometimes in groves and clusters, more 
generally as single trees, scattered about among the rocks. The form of the tree, as well as its 
foliage, are peculiar, and readily serve to distinguish it from all other pines I have seen. It 
has nothing of the conical figure of most coniferous trees, but the trunk soon divides into 
spreading branches, and the tree has the port of an oak or maple, sometimes even approaching 
