CHAP. CXI1I.

CONl'FEIliE. Pl'NUS.

2233

from this tree, and from the Pitus (Pinus Pinea). The resinousparts of the wood of the Peukos are cut into small pieces, and servefor candles, called dadia. The cones (koinoi) are sometimes put intothe wine barrels. The bark is used in tanning hides. The wood ismuch employed by carpenters in building.” (Lamb. Pin., ed. 2., 1.p. 17.)

1 P. h. 4 genuensis, P. genuensis Cook. — The plant in the HorticulturalSociety’s Garden was raised from cones brought from the coast ofGenoa, by Captain Cook, in 1830. It has not yet borne cones inEngland, and does not appear, in foliage and habit, different fromthe species. The cone we possess is 3 in. long, and 1) in. in dia-meter at the broadest end, and regularly pyramidal. The length ofthe stalk is § in.

Description. A tree, rising generally to the height of 25 ft. or 30 ft.,though sometimes to that of 40 ft. or 50 ft., with a trunk acquiring, at theground, from 4 ft. to 5 ft. of circumference. When young, it has a spreadinghead, with more slender branches than most other pines. The bark of thetrunk and branches is greyish or ash-coloured, and rather smooth, evenwhen the tree is old. The bark of the young

branches is greenish, and less scaly than is , ,, 2113

usual in species of this genus. The old treeshave a round head, and are generally, in Eng-land at least, broader than they are high. Theleaves are of a deep green, 2 in. or 3 in. long,most commonly 2 in a sheath, but some-times, though rarely, 3 ; and they are so dis-posed as to form a double spiral round thebranches. They never remain longer than twoyears on the tree j in consequence of whichthe branches of old trees have a naked appear-ance, and the head looks open, straggling, andthin. The male catkins are reddish, from £ in.to yg- in. in length, on short pedicels, disposedin branches of 30 or 40 together. The crestis large, proportionably to the size of the an-thers, and is rounded. The female catkinsare not, as is usual, placed at the extremity ofthe shoot of the year, but come out at the sideof the shoot, and towards the middle of it : they point outwards during theirflowering, and are of a greenish hue, slightly tinged with red. The coneshave very strong peduncles of half an inch or more in length; and, as theyadvance in size, they take a direction almost perpendicularly downwards.The cones are of a very regular pyramidal form, somewhat rounded at thebase; 2in. or 3 in. long; of a yellowish or fawn colour, but taking a greyishtinge when mature. The extremities of the scales project very slightly:they are scarcely angular, and are somewhat convex. The seeds are ovalljin. long, pointed at their lower extremities, and with the wings measuring1 in. in length. The tree grows rapidly when young, acquiring the heightof 15ft. or 20ft. in ten years; after which it increases more slowly, and, inEngland at least, loses much of its beauty, by the head becoming open andstraggling. The head, from its rapid growth, generally leans to the sideopposite to that from which the prevailing wind of the locality blows thebranches, in young trees, generally resting on the ground; so that the trunk isseldom, if ever, erect and straight. The cones are produced at the age of 10years, but seldom in any great quantity. The finest trees which we haveseen of this species are at White Knights and Dropmore; at which places, in1837, there were trees 17ft. and 27 ft. high. That in the HorticulturalSociety’s Garden, of which a portrait is given in our last Volume, was, in