34. PINUS MERKUSII
- 1790 P. sylvestris Loureiro, Fl. Cochinch. ii. 579 (not Linnaeus).
- 1845 P. Merkusii De Vriese, Pl. Nov. Ind. Bat. 5, t. 2.
- 1847 P. Finlaysoniana Wallich ex Blume, Rumphia, iii. 210.
- 1849 P. Latteri Mason in Jour. Asiat. Soc. i. 74.
Spring-shoots uninodal. Leaves binate, slender, from 15 to 20 cm. long, the hypoderm of uniform thick-walled cells, resin-ducts medial, or with internal or septal ducts, endoderm-cells very unequal in size, some of them large. Conelets unarmed. Cones from 5 to 8 cm. long, peculiarly narrow-cylindrical, symmetrical; apophyses lustrous, rufous brown, radially carinate, the transverse keel prominent.
Of the habit of this Pine I know nothing. As a species it is very clearly defined by its peculiar cone and leaf-section. It grows in the Philippines, Sumatra, Lower Burmah and western Indo-China. In my specimen the pits of the ray-cells of the wood are both large and small. In this particular it may belong in either of two groups of species. Its uniform leaf-hypoderm associates it with this group or with P. halepensis of the Insignes. I have assumed the cone to be dehiscent at maturity and have placed it with the Lariciones, but if further information shows the cone to be serotinous, this species should be transferred to the serotinous group.
Fig. 198, Cone. Fig. 199, Magnified sections of two leaves. Fig. 200, Leaf-fascicle.