PINE, a name given by the ancients to some of the resinous cone-bearing trees to which it is now applied, and, as limited by modern botanists, the designation of a large genus (Pines) of true conifers, differing from the firs in their hard woody cone scales being thickened at the apex, and in their slender needle shaped leaves growing from a membranous sheath, either in pairs or from three to five together—each tuft representing an abortive branch, springing from the axil of a partially deciduous scale-leaf, the base of which remains closely adherent to the stem. The numerous male catkins are generally arranged in dense whorls around the bases of the young shoots; the anther-scales, sur mounted by a crest-like appendage, shed their abundant pollen by longitudinal slits; the two ovules at the base of the inner side of each fertile cone-scale develop into a pair of winged seeds, which drop from the opening scales when mature.
The pines, which comprise about 7o species, are widely dis tributed over the north temperate zone, in the southern portions chiefly confined to the mountains, along which, in Central America, a few are found within the Tropics ; in more northern regions they frequently form extensive forests, sometimes hardly mingled with other trees. One species occurs native in Great Britain; about 3o are indigenous to the United States and Canada. Their soft, straight-grained, resinous and often durable wood gives to many kinds a high economic value, and some are among the most esteemed of timber trees.
Of the two-leaved species, P. sylvestris, the pine of northern Europe, may be taken as a type. When growing in perfection it is one of the finest of the group, and perhaps the most picturesque of forest trees; attaining a height of from 7o to 120 ft., it is of conical growth when young, but in maturity acquires a spreading cedar or mushroom-like top, with a straight trunk, two to four feet in diameter at the base, and gnarled twisted boughs, densely clothed at the extremities with glaucous green foliage, which contrasts strongly with the fiery red-brown bark. The leaves are rather short, curved, and often twisted; the male catkins, in dense cylindrical whorls, fill the air of the forest with their sul phur-like pollen in May or June, and pollinate the purple female flowers, which, at first sessile and erect, then become recurved on a lengthening stalk; the ovate cones, about the length of the leaves, are not fertilized until the next summer and do not reach maturity until the autumn of the following year. They seldom open and scatter their seeds until the third year. P. sylvestris is found, in greater or less abundance, from the hills of Finmark and the plains of Bothnia to the mountains of Spain and even the higher forest-slopes of Etna, while in longitude its range extends from the shores of the North Sea to Kamchatka. Nowhere more
abundant than in the Scandinavian peninsula, this tree is the true fir (fur, fura) of the old Norsemen, and still retains the name in Great Britain, though botanically now classed as a pine. It grows vigorously in Lapland on the lower ground, while in south Norway it occurs up to 3,00o ft., though the great forests from which "Norway pine" timber is chiefly derived are on the comparatively lower slopes of the south-eastern dales : in the highest situations it dwindles to a mere bush. It furnishes the yellow deal of the Baltic and Norway. In Germany, both on the mountains and the sandy plains, woods of "kiefer" are frequent and widely spread, while vast forests in Russia and Poland are chiefly composed of this species ; in many northern habitats it is associated with the spruce and birch. In Asia it abounds in Siberia and on the moun tains of the Amur region; on the European Alps it occurs at a height of 5,600 ft., and on the Pyrenees it is found at still higher elevations. In Great Britain natural forests of Scotch fir of any extent are only now found in the Highlands, chiefly on the decliv ities of the Grampians. The tree is not at present indigenous in southern Britain, but when planted in suitable ground multiplies rapidly by the wind-sown seeds; on many of the sandy moors and commons natural pine woods of large extent have been thus formed during recent years. The heartwood of the finer kinds of Scotch fir is of a deep brownish-red colour, abounding in the resin to which its durability is probably due. For all indoor and most outdoor purposes it is as lasting as oak, and for ship plank ing is perhaps little inferior; from its lightness and elasticity it is well adapted for the construction of yachts and other small fast sailing craft, and is said to be the best of all wood for masts and large spars; its weight varies from 3o to 40 lb. per cubic foot. Great numbers of young pines are annually cut for railway sleepers, mining timber and numerous agricultural applications; large quantities are consumed for wood-pavement. The quality of the timber depends greatly on the soil and position in which the trees are grown. The rapidity of growth is still more variable : in Britain full maturity is attained in from 7o to 120 years, but in Norway the trunk increases much more slowly; Schubeler states that a tree felled in the Alten district (about 70° lat.), measuring 2 ft. Io in. in diameter, showed 400 annual rings.