- 1788 P. occidentalis Swartz, Nov. Gen. & Sp. Pl. 103.
- 1862 P. cubensis Grisebach in Mem. Am. Acad. ser. 2, viii. 530.
- 1880 P. Wrightii Engelmann in Trans. Acad. Sci. St. Louis, iv. 185.
Spring-shoots uninodal, pruinose. Leaves in fascicles of 2 to 5, from 15 to 22 cm. long; resin-ducts internal, hypoderm biform, endoderm with thin outer walls. Conelets erect, aristate. Cones from 5 to 8 cm. long, reflexed, ovate, symmetrical, deciduous; apophyses nut-brown, lustrous, flat or tumid, the umbo often thin and, together with the slender prickle, bent sharply downward.
This species is confined to San Domingo, Hayti and eastern Cuba. Its erect conelet and reflexed cone distinguish it from P. caribaea, which has both its conelet and cone reflexed. Moreover the conelet is usually, perhaps always, subterminal in P. occidentalis.
Fig. 247, Cone. Fig. 248, Conelet and enlarged aristate scales. Fig. 249, Magnified sections of two leaves and more magnified dermal tissues.
43. PINUS PALUSTRIS
- 1768 P. palustris Miller, Gard. Dict. ed. 8.
- 1810 P. australis Michaux f. Hist. Arbr. Am. i. 64, t. 6.
Spring-shoots uninodal, rarely multinodal. Buds peculiarly large, white, and conspicuously fringed with the long free cilia of the bud-scales. Leaves in fascicles of 3, from 20 to 45 cm. long, rigid; resin-ducts internal, hypoderm biform, endoderm with thin outer walls. Conelets short-mucronate. Cones from 15 to 20 cm. long, narrow, tapering from a rounded base to a blunt point, symmetrical, deciduous and usually leaving a few scales on the tree; apophyses dull nut-brown, elevated along a transverse keel, the umbo salient and forming the broad base of a small persistent prickle.
Its thin sap-wood, its very strong heavy wood of large dimensions with abundant resin of excellent quality make this the most valuable species of the genus. It ranges over the sandy plain that borders the Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico, from southeastern Virginia to eastern Texas. The northern limit is approximately the centre of the Southern and Gulf States, with a northern extension in Alabama to the base of the Appalachian Mountains and to northwestern Louisiana. Its southern limit lies near the centre of the Florida peninsula.
Among its associates this species is recognized by its large white fringed bud and its elongated cone. Its leaves attain, on vigorous trees, the maximum length among Pines, but on most trees the leaves do not differ in length from the longer forms of those of P. caribaea or P. taeda. A peculiarity, which it shares with P. caribaea, is the deciduous scaly bark of mature trees, constantly falling away in thin irregular scales.