=PINÀCEAE.= The Pine Family.
Trees and shrubs with a resinous sap, which yields rosin, tar,
turpentine and essential oils. The leaves are linear or scale-like,
alternate, whorled or clustered; flowers naked, appearing in the spring;
fruit a cone or sometimes berry-like. A large family of trees and
shrubs, containing over 200 species, found in many parts of the world,
and of great economic importance. In Indiana only nine species are
native, and the distribution of seven of these species has always been
very limited.
Leaves linear, in clusters of 2, 3, 5 or more than 5.
Leaves in bundles of 2-5. 1 Pinus.
Leaves in bundles of more than 5. 2 Larix.
Leaves linear and solitary, or scale-like.
Leaves all linear.
Leaves obtuse. 3 Tsuga.
Leaves sharp-pointed.
Leaves green on both sides, alternate. 4 Taxodium.
Leaves glaucous beneath, opposite or whorled. 6 Juniperus.
Leaves all scale-like, or some of the branches with
linear sharp-pointed leaves.
Leaves all scale-like, fruit a cone of 8-12
imbricated scales. 5 Thuja.
Leaves scale-like or some linear and sharp-pointed,
fruit berry-like. 6 Juniperus.
=1. PÌNUS.= The Pines.
Evergreen trees with needle-shaped leaves in bundles of 2-5 or 7;
flowers appearing in the spring, the staminate clustered at the base of
the season's shoots, the pistillate on the side or near the end of the
shoots; fruit a woody cone which matures at the end of the second
season, or more rarely at the end of the third season; scales of the
cone variously thickened; seeds in pairs at the base of the scales.
There are about 70 species of pines of which three are native to
Indiana. Commercially the pines are classed as soft and hard. In our
area the soft pines are represented by the white pine, while the gray
and Jersey pines are classed as hard pines.
Leaves 5 in a bundle, 6-12 cm. long. 1 P. Strobus.
Leaves 2-3 in a bundle.
Scales of cones unarmed, leaves usually 2-4 cm. long. 2 P. Banksiana.
Scales of cones tipped with a short spine, leaves
usually over 4 cm. long. 3 P. virginiana.
=1.= =Pinus Stròbus= Linnæus. White Pine. Plate 2. Bark greenish and
smooth on young trees, becoming reddish or gray and furrowed on old
trees; young twigs scurvy-pubescent, soon smooth and light brown; leaves
normally 5 in a bundle, sometimes more, 6-12 cm. long, 3-sided,
sharp-pointed, bluish-green, maturing and falling at end of second
season; cones ripening at end of second season, usually 10-20 cm. long;
wood light, soft, not strong, works easily, takes a good polish, and
warps little.
=Distribution.=--Newfoundland to Manitoba, south to Iowa, Kentucky and
along the Alleghany Mountains to northern Georgia. The mass distribution
of this species is to the north of our area, and in Indiana it is local
and found in small numbers. It is a common tree on some of the dunes
bordering Lake Michigan, and is found locally throughout the area
bordering Lake Michigan. Its distribution in this part of the State has
not been studied, but it is believed that in Lake and Porter Counties it
is not at present found far from the Lake. Blatchley[1] reports "a
thicket of this species about a peat bog on the Hayward farm one mile
east of Merrillville in Lake County." The writer has seen it as a
frequent tree in a black oak woods about four miles southwest of
Michigan City, also quite a number of large trees seven miles northeast
of Michigan City in a swampy woods, associated with white elm, black
ash, soft maple, etc.
Nieuwland[2] reports a single tree found in a tamarack swamp 25 miles
east of Michigan City near Lydick in St. Joseph County. The next
appearance of this species is to the south in Warren County on the
outcrops of sandstone along Big Pine, Little Pine, Rock and Kickapoo
Creeks. It is found more or less on bluffs of these creeks. It was the
most abundant along Big Pine Creek, and followed up the creek for a
distance of about ten miles, or midway between Rainsville and Indian
Village. To the south it is next found in Fountain County on the
outcrops of sandstone along Big Shawnee and Bear Creeks. Franklin Watts
who owns the "Bear Creek Canyon" just south of Fountain says he
remembers the area before any cutting was done along the creek. He says
that the white pine was a common tree along the creek for a distance of
half a mile and that a few scattered trees were found as far as 40 rods
from the creek. He stated that the largest trees were about 30 inches in
diameter and as high as the highest of the surrounding trees. Moving
southward it is next found on a ridge of sandstone in Montgomery County
on the south side of Sugar Creek about a mile east of the shades. Here
it is closely associated with hemlock which is absent in all of the
stations to the north. Coulter[3] reports a colony in the "knobs" of the
northeast corner of Floyd County. This species was also reported from
Clark County by Baird and Taylor. The writer has made inquiry and
diligently searched for this species in this county but failed to locate
it. In the vicinity of Borden where the Jersey pine grows, millmen
distinguish two kinds of pines. Investigation showed that both are
Jersey pine. The one with resinous exudations along the trunk is one
kind, and trunks without exudation is the other. Since Baird and Taylor
include cultivated trees in their list of the plants of Clark County, it
is proposed to drop this reference.
[Illustration: Plate 2.