Reports of explorations and surveys, to ascertain the most practicable and economical route for a railroad from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean: Vol. 6, Pt. 3

BOTANY.
thick and tangled masses, scarcely rising above the surface; the trunks, sometimes of consider
able size, creeping about among the rocks like roots.
This pine nowhere, within my observation, attained the size of a large tree; the largest individuais, with a diameter of two and a half feet, having no greater height than 50 feet. The
bark of the trunk is white as milk, but moderately rough and thin, having much the appearance of the bark of the white oak (Q. Alba) in trees of moderate size; the bark of the branches
gray, smooth, and tender, as in the white pine; the wood of the branches very flexible and
tough, the leaves confined to the extremities of the branches, five in a sheath, light, blue-green,
triangular, and smooth; those of each fascicle of uniform length and approximated, giving the
foliage a peculiar, notched, or cropped look. The cones were so rare, that, though constantly
among, the trees and on the lookout mvself, I had for two weeks an offer, open to all our party,
of a dollar for a good cone; and no one was able to claim the reward. Fragments of cones, recent or of other years, were under every tree, but (containing seeds with kernels nearly as large
as peas) they had been most carefully sought and torn up by the little pine squirrels. At the
end of the two weeks' search, a smile of fortune led me to a locality where that want was fully
supplied. The cones are erect or divergent, two to three inches long, ovoid in outline, oblique
at the base, of a peculiar red color, very smooth and free from resin. They are composed of
scales, which are thick and woody, of which the bosses project in flattened prisms, or cones of
considerable length, giving an inequality of surface greater than in any of the smaller pine
cones which have been described. The scales have no spines.
The seeds are wingless or nearly so; when mature, are oval in form, as large as large peas;
the flavor is agreeable, and the Indians eat them whenever they can be obtained.
The description of P. flexili8, as given by Torrey, James, and Nuttall, agree in so many
particulars with that of the summit pine of the Cascade mountains that I was at first inclined
to regard them as identical. P. flexii-9, however, where it has been. observed, has not the extreme alpine habit of our trees, and the cone, as figured by Nuttall, is as different as possible
from the cones which it bears. If P. flexilis has been accurately described, the two species,
however closely allied, are distinct. The cone figured by Nuttall partakes much more of the
character common to those of most of the five leaved pines, being pendulous, slender, and composed of relatively thin, appressed scales. If the cone of P. fiexilis is of this character it may
justify the comparison which he makes with that of P. Cembra, which, though short-sometimes almost globose-has the general features of the cones of P. strobus, P. Larnmbertiana, &c.
whereas the cone of P. Cembroides? has almost nothing in common with that of P. Cmbra
but its eatable seeds; a character which it shares with two other nut pines of the western
mountains-P. monoph7tyllus and P. eduli8-the cones of which are more like those of this species
than they are those of ]. Gembra.
I have not access to the original description of P. Gembroides, nor are any specimens, to my
knowledge, in possession of American botanists. Until a more satisfactory comparison can be
made between the Oregon tree and that of Mexico it will be impossible to determine the ques tion of their identity or difference; though it would seem improbable that a tree having the ex treme alpine habit of that of the Cascade mountains should be found in any part of Mexico,
they are evidently so very like each other that I have thought best for the present to consider
them identical.
The description of P.tehis, as given by Dr. Jamnes, (Long's E i., vol,. 2, p. 34,) does not
agree with that given by Dr. Engelmaun, (Boa. W~is7liz. Expel., jp. 5,) where it, is represented
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