Figs. 242, 243, Cones and seed. Fig. 244, Bud. Fig. 245, Magnified leaf-section. Fig. 246, Magnified cells of the leaf-endoderm. The dermal tissues of fig. 249 also apply to this species.
44. PINUS CARIBAEA
- 1851 P. caribaea Morelet in Rev. Hort. Côte d'Or, i. 105.
- 1864 P. bahamensis Grisebach, Fl. Brit. W. Ind. 503.
- 1880 P. Elliottii Engelmann in Trans. Acad. St. Louis, iv. 186, tt. 1-3.
- 1884 P. cubensis Sargent in Rep. 10th. Cens. U. S. ix. 202 (not Grisebach).
- 1893 P. heterophylla Sudworth in Bull. Torrey Bot. Club, xx. 45.
- 1903 P. recurvata Rowley in Bull. Torrey Bot. Club, xxx. 107.
Spring-shoots multinodal, more or less pruinose. Buds pale chestnut-brown. Leaves in fascicles of 2 and 3, or more in its southern range, from 12 to 25 cm. long; resin-ducts internal, hypoderm biform, endoderm with thin outer walls. Conelets reflexed on long peduncles, mucronate. Cones from 5 to 15 cm. long, ovate or oblong-ovate, symmetrical, deciduous and leaving often a few basal scales on the branch; apophyses lustrous, rufous-brown, tumid, the umbo somewhat salient and minutely mucronate.
The northern limit of the range of P. caribaea extends from the coast of southeastern S. Carolina through southeastern Georgia and southern Alabama to southeastern Louisiana. It is associated with P. palustris, taeda, serotina, echinata and glabra in this part of its range. It continues through Florida, where it encounters P. clausa. On the Bahamas it is the only Pine. On the Isle of Pines it finds in P. tropicalis another associate. It also grows in Honduras and Guatemala. The wood and resin of this species are of such excellent quality that no commercial distinction is made between P. caribaea and P. palustris.