2256

ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM.

PART 111.

Synonymes. P. palustris Willd. Sp. PI. , 4. p. 499., Mill. Diet., 14., Ait. Hort. Kew., 3. p. 368., PurshFl. Amur. Sept., 2. p. 644., Lamb. Pin., ed. 2., 1.1. 24, 25.; P. americ&na paltistris, &c., Hort. Angl.,p. 88., Du Ham. Arb ., 2. p. 126.; P. serotina Hort. , see Bon Jard., ed. 1837, p. 976. In America,long-leaved Pine, yellow Pine, Pitch Pine, and Broom Pine, in the southern states; southernPine and red Pine in the northern states ; and yellow Pine and Pitch Pine in the middle states.In England and the West Indies, by the timber merchants, Georgia Pitch Pine.

Engravings. Michx. Arb., 1. t. 6.; N. Amer. Syl., 3. 1 .141. ; Abb. Ins., 1 . t. 42.; Lamb. Pin.,ed. 2.,1.1. 24, 25.; owr jig. 2159., to our usual scale from Abbott; and Jigs. 2156, to 2158., of the naturalsize, from Michaux and from Dropmore specimens.

Spec. Char., §c. Leaves in threes, very long. Male catkins long, cylindrical,of a tawny blue, divergent. Cones very long, tessellated with tumid tuber-cles, terminated by very small mucros. (Michx.) Buds, in the Dropmorespecimen (seeyfg. 2156.), rather small in proportion to the termination of theshoot, and buried in leaves. When the leaves are removed, the bud is foundto be from f to § in. long,and from Jfe in. to in.broad, with numerous, far-projecting, white, fringedscales; general form conical,and wholly without resin.

Leaves (seeJig. 2158.) from8 in. to 9 in. in length ;sheath from 1 j in. to 2 in.long, white, membranaceous,and lacerated. The cones,

2156 in Michaux’s figure, 8 in.

long, and 2£ in. broad in the widest part. Scale(fig. 2157.) from 1J in. to 1J in. long, and1J in. broad. Seeds oval, from fin. to -Jin.in length, in. broad; whitish, with the wing 2f in. in length, and Jin. inbreadth, and, as well as the cone, of a rich chestnut, brown; in Lambert’sfigure, the scales and seeds are much smaller. Cotyledons, ?

Variety.

1 P. a. 2 excelsa, P. palustris excelsa Booth, was raised in the FloetbeckNurseries, in 1830, from seeds procured from the north-west coastof North America. The plant, in 1837, was 4 ft. high, with leavesas long as those of P. australis ; and was quite hardy, even in thatclimate. Possibly a distinct species.

Description. A tree, according to Michaux, from 60 ft. to 70 ft. high, andwith a trunk from 1 ft. 3 in. to 1 ft. 6 in. diameter for two thirds of its height.Some specimens, in favourable situations, attain much larger dimensions,particularly in East Florida. The bark is somewhat furrowed, and theepidermis detaches itself in thin transparent sheets. The leaves are about1 ft. long, of a beautiful brilliant green, collected in bunches at the extremitiesof the branches : they are longer and more numerous on young trees. Thebuds are said by Michaux to be very large, white, fringed, and not resinous.The male catkins are produced in masses ; they are violet-coloured, andabout 2 in. long; in drying, they shed great quantities of yellowish pollen,which is diffused by the wind, and forms a momentary covering on the ad-jacent land and water. The cones are large, being 7 in. or 8 in. long, and 4in.thick when open ; and they are armed with very small retorted prickles. Thetree flowers in April, and the cones ripen about October in the second year,and shed their seeds the same month. The kernel is of an agreeable taste, andis contained in a thin whitish shell, instead of being black, as is the case withevery other species of American pine, and it is surmounted by a wing, which isoften more than 2 in. in length. The seeds, in some years, are very abundant;but, in others, a forest of 100 miles in extent may be ransacked without findinga single cone ; which was probably the occasion, Michaux observes, of the state-ment made by the French, who, in 1567, attempted to effect a settlement inFlorida; viz. “ that the woods were filled with superb pines, that never yieldedseed.” The timber is said to contain but little sap wood. Trunks 1 ft. 3 in.