Part 5

Scales of the female flowers numerous; spirally arranged in the axils of persistent bracts; ovules 2, inverted; seeds borne directly on the scales, attached at the base in shallow depressions on the inner side of the scales, falling from them at maturity and usually carrying away a scarious terminal wing; leaves fascicled or scattered (_deciduous in Larix_). Abietineæ. Fruit maturing in two or rarely in three seasons; leaves fascicled, needle-shaped in axillary 1—5-leaved clusters, inclosed at the base in a membranaceous sheath; cone-scales thick and woody, much longer than their bracts. 1. Pinus. Fruit maturing in one season. Leaves in many-leaved clusters on short spur-like branchlets, deciduous; cone-scales thin, usually shorter than their bracts. 2. Larix. Leaves scattered, linear. Cones pendulous, the scales persistent on the axis. Branchlets roughened by the persistent leaf-bases; leaves deciduous in drying; bracts shorter than the cone-scales. Leaves sessile, 4-sided, or flattened and stomatiferous above. 3. Picea. Leaves stalked, flattened and stomatiferous below, or angular. 4. Tsuga. Branchlets not roughened by leaf-bases; leaves stalked, flattened; not deciduous in drying; bracts of the cone 2-lobed, aristate, longer than the scales. 5. Pseudotsuga. Cones erect, their scales deciduous from the axis, longer or shorter than the bracts; leaves sessile, flat or 4-sided. 6. Abies. Scales of the female flowers without bracts; ovules and seeds borne on the face of minute scales adnate to the base of the flower-scales, enlarging and forming the scales of the cone. Seeds with a narrow marginal wing (_wingless in Juniperas_). Scales of the female flowers numerous, spirally arranged, forming a woody cone; ovules erect, 2 or many under each scale; leaves linear, alternate, often of 2 forms (_deciduous in Taxodium_). Taxodiæ. Ovules and seeds numerous under each scale. 7. Sequoia. Ovules and seeds 2 under each scale; leaves mostly spreading in 2 ranks. 8. Taxodium. Scales of the female flower few, decussate, forming a small cone, or rarely a berry; ovules 2 or many under each scale; leaves decussate or in 3 ranks, often of 2 forms, usually scale-like, mostly adnate to the branch, the earliest free and subulate. Cupressineæ. Fruit a cone; leaves scale-like. Cones oblong, their scales oblong, imbricated or valvate; seeds 2 under each scale, maturing the first year. Scales of the cone 6, the middle ones only fertile; seeds unequally 2-winged. 9. Libocedrus. Scales of the cone 8—12; seeds equally 2-winged. 10. Thuja. Cones subglobose, the scales peltate, maturing in one or two years; seeds few or many under each scale. Fruit maturing in two seasons; seeds many under each scale; branchlets terete or 4-winged. 11. Cupressus. Fruit maturing in one season; seeds 2 under each scale; branchlets flattened. 12. Chamæcyparis. Fruit a berry formed by the coalition of the scales of the flower; ovules in pairs or solitary; flowers diœcious; leaves decussate or in 3’s, subulate or scale-like, often of 2 forms. 13. Juniperus.

1. PINUS Duham. Pine.

Trees or rarely shrubs, with deeply furrowed and sometimes laminate or with thin and scaly bark, hard or often soft heartwood often conspicuously marked by dark bands of summer cells impregnated with resin, pale nearly white sapwood, and large branch-buds formed during summer and composed of minute buds in the axils of bud-scales, becoming the bracts of the spring shoot. Leaves needle-shaped, clustered, the clusters borne on deciduous spurs in the axils of scale-like primary leaves, inclosed in the bud by numerous scales lengthening and forming a more or less persistent sheath at the base of each cluster. Male flowers clustered at the base of leafy growing shoots of the year, each flower surrounded at the base by an involucre of 3—6 scale-like bracts, composed of numerous sessile anthers, imbricated in many ranks and surmounted by crest-like nearly orbicular connectives; the female subterminal or lateral, their scales in the axils of non-accrescent bracts. Fruit a woody cone maturing at the end of the second or rarely of the third season, composed of the hardened and woody scales of the flower more or less thickened on the exposed surface (the _apophysis_), with the ends of the growth of the previous year appearing as terminal or dorsal brown protuberances or scars (the _umbo_). Seeds usually obovoid, shorter or longer than their wings or rarely wingless; outer seed-coat crustaceous or thick, hard, and bony, the inner membranaceous; cotyledons 3—18, usually much shorter than the inferior radicle.

Pinus is widely distributed through the northern hemisphere from the Arctic Circle to the West Indies, the mountains of Central America, the Canary Islands, northern Africa, the Philippine Islands, and Sumatra. About sixty-six species are recognized. Of exotic species the so-called Scotch Pine, _Pinus sylvestris_ L., of Europe and Asia, the Swiss Stone Pine, _Pinus cembra_ L., and the Austrian Pine and other forms of _Pinus nigra_ Arnold, from central and southern Europe, are often planted in the northeastern states, and _Pinus Pinaster_ Ait., of the coast region of western France and the Mediterranean Basin is successfully cultivated in central and southern California. _Pinus_ is the classical name of the Pine-tree.

The North American species can be conveniently grouped in two sections, Soft Pines and Pitch Pines.

SOFT PINES.

Wood soft, close-grained, light-colored, the sapwood thin and nearly white; sheaths of the leaf-clusters deciduous; leaves with one fibro-vascular bundle.

Leaves in 5-leaved clusters. Cones long-stalked, elongated, cylindric bright green at maturity, becoming light yellow brown, their scales thin, with terminal unarmed umbos; seeds shorter than their wings. White Pines. Leaves without conspicuous white lines on the back. Leaves slender, flexible; cones 4′—8′ long. 1. P. Strobus (A). Leaves stout, more rigid; cones 5′—11′ long. 2. P. monticola (B, G). Leaves with conspicuous white lines on the back; cones 12′—18′ long. 3. P. Lambertiana (G). Cones short-stalked, green or purple at maturity, their scales thick. Cones cylindric or subglobose, their scales with terminal umbos; leaves 2′ long or less. Stone Pines. Cones 3′—10′ long, their scales opening at maturity; seeds with wings. 4. P. flexilis (F, H). Cones ½′—3′ long, their scales remaining closed at maturity; seeds wingless. 5. P. albicaulis (B, F, G). Cones ovoid-oblong, their scales with dorsal umbos armed with slender prickles; seeds shorter than their wings; leaves in crowded clusters, incurved, less than 2′ long. Foxtail Pines. Cones armed with minute incurved prickles. 6. P. Balfouriana (G). Cones armed with long slender prickles. 7. P. aristata (F, G). Leaves in 1—4-leaved clusters; cones globose, green at maturity, becoming light brown, their scales few, concave, much thickened, only the middle scales seed-bearing; seeds large and edible, their wings rudimentary; leaves 2′ or less, often incurved. Nut Pines. 8. P. cembroides (C, F, G, H).

1. Pinus Strobus L. White Pine.

Leaves soft bluish green, whitened on the ventral side by 3—5 bands of stomata, 3′—5′ long, mostly turning yellow and falling in September in their second season, or persistent until the following June. Flowers: male yellow; female bright pink, with purple scale margins. Fruit fully grown in July of the second season, 4′—8′ long, opening and discharging its seeds in September; seeds narrowed at the ends, ¼′ long, red-brown mottled with black, about one fourth as long as their wings.

A tree, while young with slender horizontal or slightly ascending branches in regular whorls usually of 5 branches; at maturity often 100°, occasionally 220° high, with a tall straight stem 3°—4° or rarely 6° in diameter, when crowded in the forest with short branches forming a narrow head, or rising above its forest companions with long lateral branches sweeping upward in graceful curves, the upper branches ascending and forming a broad open irregular head, and slender branchlets coated at first with rusty tomentum, soon glabrous, and orange-brown in their first winter. Bark on young stems and branches thin, smooth, green tinged with red, lustrous during the summer, becoming 1′—2′ thick on old trunks and deeply divided by shallow fissures into broad connected ridges covered with small closely appressed purplish scales. Wood light, not strong, straight-grained, easily worked, light brown often slightly tinged with red; largely manufactured into lumber, shingles, and laths, used in construction, for cabinet-making, the interior finish of buildings, wooden ware, matches, and the masts of vessels.

Distribution. Newfoundland to Manitoba, southward through the northern states to Pennsylvania, northern and eastern (Belmont County) Ohio, northern Indiana, valley of the Rocky River near Oregon, Ogle County, Illinois, and central and southeastern Iowa, and along the Appalachian Mountains to eastern Kentucky and Tennessee and northern Georgia; forming nearly pure forests on sandy drift soils, or more often in small groves scattered in forests of deciduous-leaved trees on fertile well-drained soil, also on the banks of streams, or on river flats, or rarely in swamps.

Largely planted as an ornament of parks and gardens in the eastern states, and in many European countries, where it grows with vigor and rapidity; occasionally used in forest planting in the United States.

2. Pinus monticola D. Don. White Pine.

Leaves blue-green, glaucous, whitened by 2—6 rows of ventral and often by dorsal stomata, mostly persistent 3 or 4 years. Flowers: male yellow; female pale purple. Fruit 5′—11′ long, shedding its seeds late in the summer or in early autumn; seeds narrowed at the ends, ⅓′ long, pale red-brown mottled with black, about one third as long as their wings.

A tree, often 100° or occasionally 150° high, with a trunk frequently 4°—5° or rarely 7°—8° in diameter, slender spreading slightly pendulous branches clothing young stems to the ground and in old age forming a narrow open often unsymmetrical pyramidal head, and stout tough branchlets clothed at first with rusty pubescence, dark orange-brown and puberulous in their first and dark red-purple and glabrous in their second season. Bark of young stems and branches thin, smooth, light gray, becoming on old trees ¾′—1½′ thick and divided into small nearly square plates by deep longitudinal and cross fissures, and covered by small closely appressed purple scales. Wood light, soft, not strong, close, straight-grained, light brown or red; sometimes manufactured into lumber, used in construction and the interior finish of buildings.

Distribution. Scattered through mountain forests from the basin of the Columbia River in British Columbia to Vancouver Island; on the mountains of northern Washington to the western slopes of the Rocky Mountains of northern Montana; on the coast ranges of Washington and Oregon; and on the Cascade and Sierra Nevada ranges southward to the Kern River valley, California; most abundant and of its greatest value in northern Idaho on the bottom-lands of streams tributary to Lake Pend Oreille; reaching the sea-level on the southern shores of the Straits of Fuca and elevations of 10,000° on the California Sierras.

Often planted as an ornamental tree in Europe, and occasionally in the eastern United States where it grows more vigorously than any other Pine-tree of western America.

3. Pinus Lambertiana Dougl. Sugar Pine.

Leaves stout, rigid, 3½′—4′ long, marked on the two faces by 2—6 rows of stomata; deciduous during their second and third years. Flowers: male light yellow; female pale green. Fruit fully grown in August and opening in October, 11′—18′ or rarely 21′ long; seeds ½′—⅝′ long, dark chestnut-brown or nearly black, and half the length of their firm dark brown obtuse wings broadest below the middle and ½′ wide.

A tree, in early life with remote regular whorls of slender branches often clothing the stem to the ground and forming an open narrow pyramid; at maturity 200°-220° high, with a trunk 6°—8° or occasionally 12° in diameter, a flat-topped crown frequently 60° or 70° across of comparatively slender branches sweeping outward and downward in graceful curves, and stout branchlets coated at first with pale or rufous pubescence, dark orange-brown during their first winter, becoming dark purple-brown. Bark on young stems and branches thin, smooth, dark green, becoming on old trunks 2′—3′ thick and deeply and irregularly divided into long thick plate-like ridges covered with large loose rich purple-brown or cinnamon-red scales. Wood light, soft, straight-grained, light red-brown; largely manufactured into lumber and used for the interior finish of buildings, woodwork, and shingles. A sweet sugar-like substance exudes from wounds made in the heartwood.

Distribution. Mountain slopes and the sides of ravines and cañons; western Oregon from the valley of the north branch of the Santiam River southward on the Cascade and coast ranges; California along the northern and coast ranges to Sonoma County; along the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada, where it grows to its greatest size at elevations between 3000° and 7000°; reappearing on the Santa Lucia Mountains of the coast ranges; and on the high mountains in the southwestern part of the state from Santa Barbara County southward usually at elevations of 5000°—7000° above the sea; and on the San Pedro Mártir Mountains in Lower California.

Occasionally planted as an ornamental tree in western Europe and in the eastern states, the Sugar Pine has grown slowly in cultivation and shows little promise of attaining the large size and great beauty which distinguish it in its native forests.

4. Pinus flexilis James. Rocky Mountain White Pine.

_Pinus strobiformis_ Sarg., not Engelm.

Leaves stout, rigid, dark green, marked on all sides by 1—4 rows of stomata, 1½′—3′ long, deciduous in their fifth and sixth years. Flowers: male reddish; female clustered, bright red-purple. Fruit subcylindric, horizontal or slightly declining, green or rarely purple at maturity, 3′—10′ long, with narrow and more or less reflexed scales opening at maturity; seeds compressed, ⅓′—½′ long, dark red-brown mottled with black, with a thick shell produced into a narrow margin, their wings about 1/12′ wide, generally persistent on the scale after the seed falls.

A tree, usually 40°—50°, occasionally 80° high, with a short trunk 2°—5° in diameter, stout long-persistent branches ultimately forming a low wide round-topped head, and stout branchlets orange-green and covered at first with soft fine pubescence, usually soon glabrous and darker colored; at high elevations often a low spreading shrub. Bark of young stems and branches thin, smooth, light gray or silvery white, becoming on old trunks 1′—2′ thick, dark brown or nearly black, and divided by deep fissures into broad ridges broken into nearly square plates covered by small closely appressed scales. Wood light, soft, close-grained, pale clear yellow, turning red with exposure; occasionally manufactured into lumber.

Distribution. Eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains from Alberta to western Texas and westward on mountain ranges at elevations of 5000° to 12,000° to Montana, and southern California, reaching the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada at the head of King’s River near the summit of San Gorgonio Mountain and in Snow Cañon, San Bernardino Range; usually scattered singly or in small groves; forming open forests on the eastern foothills of the Rocky Mountains of Montana and on the ranges of central Nevada; attaining its largest size on those of northern New Mexico and Arizona.

5. Pinus albicaulis Engelm. White Pine.

Leaves stout, rigid, slightly incurved, dark green, marked by 1—3 rows of dorsal stomata, clustered at the ends of the branches, 1½′—2½′ long, persistent for from five to eight years. Flowers opening in July, scarlet. Fruit ripening in August, oval or subglobose, horizontal, sessile, dark purple, 1½′—3′ long, with scales thickened, acute, often armed with stout pointed umbos, remaining closed at maturity; seeds wingless, acute, subcylindric or flattened on one side, ⅓′—½′ long, ⅓′ thick, with a thick dark chestnut-brown hard shell.

A tree, usually 20°—30° or rarely 60° high, generally with a short trunk 2°—4° in diameter, stout very flexible branches, finally often standing nearly erect and forming an open very irregular broad head, and stout dark red-brown or orange-colored branchlets puberulous for two years or sometimes glabrous; at high elevations often a low shrub, with wide-spreading nearly prostrate stems. Bark thin, except near the base of old trunks and broken by narrow fissures into thin narrow brown or creamy white plate-like scales. Wood light, soft, close-grained, brittle, light brown. The large sweet seeds are gathered and eaten by Indians.

Distribution. Alpine slopes and exposed ridges between 5000° and 12,000° elevation, forming the timber-line on many mountain ranges from latitude 53° north in the Rocky Mountains and British Columbia, southward to the Wind River and Salt River Ranges, Wyoming, the mountains of eastern Washington and Oregon, the Cascade Range, the mountains of northern California and the Sierra Nevada to Mt. Whitney.

6. Pinus Balfouriana Balf. Foxtail Pine.

Leaves stout, rigid, dark green and lustrous on the back, pale and marked on the ventral faces by numerous rows of stomata, 1′—1½′ long, persistent for ten or twelve years. Flowers: male dark orange-red; female dark purple. Fruit 3½′—5′ long, with scales armed with minute incurved prickles, dark purple, turning after opening dark red or mahogany color; seeds full and rounded at the apex, compressed at the base, pale, conspicuously mottled with dark purple, ⅓′ long, their wings narrowed and oblique at the apex, about 1′ long and ¼′ wide.

A tree, usually 30°—40° or rarely 90° high, with a trunk generally 1°—2° or rarely 5° in diameter, short stout branches forming an open irregular pyramidal picturesque head, and long rigid more or less spreading puberulous, soon glabrous, dark orange-brown ultimately dark gray-brown or nearly black branchlets, clothed only at the extremities with the long dense brush-like masses of foliage. Bark thin, smooth, and milky white on the stems and branches of young trees, becoming on old trees sometimes ¾′ thick, dark red-brown, deeply divided into broad flat ridges. broken into nearly square plates separating on the surface into small closely appressed scales. Wood light, soft and brittle, pale reddish brown.

Distribution. California, on rocky slopes and ridges, forming scattered groves on Scott Mountain, Siskiyou County, at elevations of 5000°—6000°; on the mountains at the head of the Sacramento River; on Mt. Yolo Bally in the northern Coast Range, and on the southern Sierra Nevada up to elevations of 11,500°, growing here to its largest size and forming an extensive open forest on the Whitney Plateau east of the cañon of Kern River, and at the highest elevations often a low shrub, with wide-spreading prostrate stems.

7. Pinus aristata Engelm. Foxtail Pine. Hickory Pine.

Leaves stout or slender, dark green, lustrous on the back, marked by numerous rows of stomata on the ventral faces, 1′—1½′ long, often deciduous at the end of ten or twelve years or persistent four or five years longer. Flowers male dark orange-red; female dark purple. Fruit 3′—3½′ long, with scales armed with slender incurved brittle prickles nearly ¼′ long, dark purple-brown on the exposed parts, the remainder dull red, opening and scattering their seeds about the 1st of October; seeds nearly oval, compressed, light brown mottled with black, ¼′ long, their wings broadest at the middle, about ⅓′ long and ¼′ wide.

A bushy tree, occasionally 40°—50° high, with a short trunk 2°—3° in diameter, short stout branches in regular whorls while young, in old age growing very irregularly, the upper erect and much longer than the usually pendulous lower branches, and stout light orange-colored, glabrous, or at first puberulous, ultimately dark gray-brown or nearly black branchlets clothed at the ends with long compact brush-like tufts of foliage. Bark thin, smooth, milky white on the stems and branches of young trees, becoming on old trees ½′—¾′ thick, red-brown, and irregularly divided into flat connected ridges separating on the surface into small closely appressed scales. Wood light, soft, not strong, light red; occasionally used for the timbers of mines and for fuel.

Distribution. Rocky or gravelly slopes at the upper limit of tree growth and rarely below 8,000° above the sea from the outer range of the Rocky Mountains of Colorado to those of southern Utah, central and southern Nevada, southeastern California, and the San Francisco peaks of northern Arizona.

8. Pinus cembroides Zucc. Nut Pine. Piñon.

Leaves in 2 or 3-leaved clusters, slender, much incurved, dark green, sometimes marked by rows of stomata on the 3 faces, 1′—2′ long, deciduous irregularly during their third and fourth years. Flowers: male in short crowded clusters, yellow; female dark red. Fruit subglobose, 1′—2′ broad; seeds subcylindric or obscurely triangular, more or less compressed at the pointed apex, full and rounded at base, nearly black on the lower side and dark chestnut-brown on the upper, ½′—¾′ long, the margin of their outer coat adnate to the cone-scale.