chap, cxiir. coni'fera;. pi'nus. 2281

as the tree advances in age, it splits, and be-comes rugged and grey, but does not falloff in scales like that of the other pines.

The leaves are from 3 in. to 4 in. long,straight, upright, slender,soft, triquetrous, of a finelight bluish green, markedwith silvery longitudinalchannels; scabrous and in-conspicuously serrated onthe margin; spreading insummer, but in winter con-tracted, and lying close tothe branches. Sheaths andstipules none, or deciduous.

Male catkins short, elliptic;pale purple, mixed with yel-low, turning red before2194 they fall ; on long foot-

stalks, and arranged like those of P. australis .

Crest of the anthers very small, and com-posed of two erect very short bristles. Fe-male catkins ovate-cylindrical; erect, onshort peduncles when young, but when fullgrown pendulous, and from 4 in. to 6 in.long, slightly curved, and composed of thinsmooth scales, rounded at the base, andpartly covered with white resin, particularlyon the tips of the scales; apex of the scalesthickened. Seeds ovate, of a dull grey. Thecone opens, to shed the seeds, in Octoberof the second year; and in America , accord-ing to Michaux, part of the seeds are gene-rally left adhering to the turpentine whichexudes from the scales. The wood is soft,light, free from knots, and easily wrought;it is also durable, and not very liable tosplit when exposed to the sun : but it haslittle strength, gives a feeble hold to nails,and sometimes swells from the humidity of the atmosphere; while, fromthe very great diminution of the trunk from the base to the summit, it isdifficult to procure planks of great length and uniform diameter. Theproportion of sap wood is very small; and, according to Michaux, a trunk12 in. in diameter generally contains 11 in. of perfect wood. The wood ofthis tree is remarkably white when newly sawn into planks; whence thecommon American name for it of white pine. The rate of growth of this treem Britain is, except in very favourable situations, slower than that of mostEuropean pines. Nevertheless, in the climate of London , it will attain theheight of 12 ft. or 13 ft. in 10 years from the seed. When planted singly,like most other pines, it forms a branchy head; but, when drawn up amongother trees of the same species, it has as clear a trunk in Britain as inAmerica . The general appearance of the tree, when standing singly inEnglish parks and pleasure-grounds, is well represented by Jig. 2196., whichls the portrait, to a scale of 24 ft. to l in., of a Weymouth pine in StudleyPark, which, in 1836, was 60 ft. 6 in. high, with a trunk about 8 ft. in circum-ference, at 1 ft. from the ground.

Geography. According to Pursh, the white, or Weymouth, pine grows infertile soil, on the sides of hills, from Canada to Virginia; attaining the largests 'ze in the state of Vermont. Michaux informs us that the tree is diffused,