Leaves slender, firm and rigid, pale yellow or bluish green, marked by numerous rows of stomata on their 3 faces, 3′—7′, usually 4′—5′ long. Flowers: male orange-brown; female fascicled, often with several fascicles on the shoot of the year. Fruit elongated, conic, pointed, very oblique at base by the greater development of the scales on the outer side, whorled, short-stalked, strongly reflexed and incurved, 3′—6′ long, becoming light yellow-brown, with thin flat scales rounded at apex, those on the outer side being enlarged into prominent transversely flattened knobs armed with thick flattened incurved spines, those on the inner side of the cone slightly thickened and armed with minute recurved prickles, persistent on the stems and branches for thirty or forty years, sometimes becoming completely imbedded in the bark of old trunks, and usually not opening until the death of the tree; seeds ellipsoidal, compressed, acute at apex, ¼′ long, with a thin oblique shell, their wings broadest at the middle, gradually narrowed to the ends, 1¼′ long, ⅓′ wide.
A tree, usually about 20° high, with a trunk a foot in diameter, and often fruitful when only 4° or 5° tall; occasionally growing to the height of 80°—100°, with a trunk 2½° thick, and frequently divided above the middle into two ascending stems, slender branches arrangedin regular whorls while the tree is young, and in old age forming a narrow round-topped straggling head of sparse thin foliage, and slender dark orange-brown branchlets growing darker during their second season. Bark of young stems and branches thin, smooth, pale brown, becoming at the base of old trunks ¼′—½′ thick and dark brown often tinged with purple, slightly and irregularly divided by shallow fissures and broken into large loose scales. Wood light, soft, not strong, brittle, coarse-grained, light brown, with thick sapwood sometimes slightly tinged with red.
Distribution. Dry mountain slopes from the valley of the Mackenzie River in Oregon over the mountains of southwestern Oregon, where it is most abundant and grows to its largest size, often forming pure forests over large areas, southward along the western slopes of the Cascade Mountains; in California on the northern cross ranges, the coast ranges from Trinity to Sonoma Counties, the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada to Mariposa County, and over the southern coast ranges from Santa Cruz to the dry arid southern slopes of the San Bernardino Mountains, where it forms a belt between City and East Twin Creeks at an altitude of 3500° above the sea.
17. [Pinus Sabiniana] Dougl. Digger Pine. Bull Pine.
Leaves stout, flexible, pendant, pale blue-green, marked on each face with numerous rows of pale stomata, 8′—12′ long, deciduous usually in their third and fourth years. Flowers: male yellow; female on stout peduncles, dark purple. Fruit oblong-ovoid, full and rounded at base, pointed, becoming light reddish brown, 6′—10′ long, long-stalked, pendulous, the scales narrowed into a stout incurved sharp hook, strongly reflexed toward the base of the cone and armed with spur-like incurved spines; seeds full and rounded below, somewhat compressed toward the apex, ¾′ long, ⅓′ wide, dark brown or nearly black, with a thick hard shell, encircled by their wings much thickened on the inner rim, obliquely rounded at the broad apex and about ½ length of nuts.
A tree, usually 40°—50° but occasionally 80° high, with a trunk 3°—4° in diameter, divided generally 15°—20° above the ground into 3 or 4 thick secondary stems, clothed with short crooked branches pendant below and ascending toward the summit of the tree, and forming an open round-topped head remarkable for the sparseness of its foliage, and stout pale glaucous branchlets, becoming dark brown or nearly black during their second season. Bark of the trunk 1½′—2′ thick, dark brown slightly tinged with red or nearly black and deeply and irregularly divided into thick connected ridges covered with small closely appressed scales. Wood light, soft, not strong, close-grained, brittle, light brown or red with thick nearly white sapwood. Abietine, a nearly colorless aromatic liquid with the odor of oil of oranges, is obtained by distilling the resinous juices. The large sweet slightly resinous seeds formed an important article of food for the Indians of California.
Distribution. Scattered singly or in small groups over the dry foothills of western California, ranging from 500° up to 4000° above the sea-level and from the southern slopes of the northern cross ranges to the Tehachapi Mountains and the Sierra de la Liebre; most abundant and attaining its largest size on the eastern foothills of the Sierra Nevada near the centre of the state at elevations of about 2000°; here often the most conspicuous feature of the vegetation.
18. [Pinus Coulteri] D. Don. Pitch Pine.
