P. Laricio, the Corsican pine, is one of the noblest trees of this group, growing to a height of ioo or even 15o ft., with a straight trunk and branches in regular whorls, forming in large trees a pyramidal head ; the slender leaves, of a dark green tint, are from 4 to 7 in. long; the cones, either in pairs or several together, pro ject horizontally, and are of a light brown colour. This pine abounds in Corsica, and is found in more or less abundance in Spain, southern France, Greece, and many Mediterranean coun tries. The tree is of very rapid growth, but produces good tim ber, much used in southern dockyards, and very durable, though less strong than that of P. sylvestris; the heart-wood is of a brownish-tint. In southern France it has been planted with suc cess on the drift-sands of the Bay of Biscay, though it does not bear the full force of the sea-blast as well as the pinaster. In England it grows well in sheltered situations and well-drained soils. The black pine, P. austriaca, generally now regarded as a variety of P. Laricio, derives its name from the extreme depth of its foliage tints—the sharp, rigid, rather long leaves of a dark green hue giving a sombre aspect to the tree.
P. Pinaster, the cluster or pinaster, is an important species from its vigorous growth in the sand-drifts of the coast, for the purpose of binding which it has been grown more extensively and successfully than any other tree, especially on the dunes of the Bay of Biscay. Growing to a height of from 4o to 8o ft., the deeply-furrowed trunk occasionally reaches a diameter of 3 ft. or more at the base, where, like most sand trees, it usually curves upward gradually, a form that enables the long tap-roots to with stand better the strain of the sea gale ; when once established, the tree is rarely overthrown even on the loosest sand. The branches curve upwards like the stem, with their thick covering of long dark green leaves, giving a massive rounded outline to the tree; the ovate cones are from 4 to 6 in. long, of a light shining brown hue, with thick scales terminating in a pyramidal apex; they are arranged around the branches in the radiating clusters that give name to the tree. The pinaster grows naturally on sandy soils around the Mediterranean from Spain to the Levant. On the drift-sands of France, especially in the Gironde, forests have been formed mainly of this pine; the seeds, sown at first under proper shelter and protected by a thick growth of broom sown simulta neously, vegetate rapidly in the sea-sand, and the trees thus raised have, by their wind-drifted seed, covered much- of the former desert of the Landes with an evergreen wood. These
forests of pinaster, apart from the production of timber in a once treeless district, have a great economic value as a source of turpentine. In England the cluster-pine has been largely planted on sandy districts near the sea, and has become naturalized in Purbeck and other wild tracts in the southern counties.
P. Pinea is the stone pine of Italy ; its spreading rounded can opy of light green foliage, supported on a tall and often branch less trunk, forms a striking feature of the landscape in that country, as well as in some other Mediterranean lands. The beautiful reddish-brown shining cones, roundly ovate in shape, with pyramidal scale apices, have been prized from the ancient days of Rome for their edible nut-like seeds (pignons), which are still used as an article of food or dessert. They do not ripen until the fourth year, and are kept in the cone until required, as their abundant oil soon turns rancid.
Nearly approaching this is P. excelsa, the Bhotan or blue pine, which differs chiefly in its longer cones and drooping glaucous foliage. It is found in Kumaon and Bhotan and on some of the Nepal ranges, but does not grow in the moist climate of the Sikkim Himalayas; it is found at a height of 7,000 to 12,000 ft., and attains large dimensions.
P. Cembra is the stone pine of Siberia and central Europe. It abounds on the Alps, the Carpathians and the Siberian ranges, in Switzerland being found at an altitude of 4,000 to 6,000 ft. The seeds are oily like those of P. Pinea, and are eaten both on the Alps and by the inhabitants of Siberia; a fine oil is expressed from them which is used both for food and in lamps. The growth of P. Cembra is slow, but the wood is of remarkably even grain, and is employed by the Swiss wood-carvers in preference to any other. Numerous species of pine are planted for ornament, affor estation, and timber production.
North American Pines.—The 35 or more species and major varieties of pine native to North America north of Mexico may be grouped in two sections, the soft pines and the pitch pines.
The soft pines have soft, close-grained wood, with thin nearly white sapwood; the sheaths of the leaf-clusters fall off early (deciduous) ; the leaves contain a single fibro-vascular bundle, and, excepting those of the nut pines, the leaves are in five-leaved clusters.
There are i i species, only one of which, the eastern white pine, is found east of the Great Plains, the others occurring in the Rocky-Mountain region and on the Pacific coast.