5 long; often these heads persist on the axis for two or ev
above each one, giving the appearance of a leafy spike i
xteen naked spaces, proving that leaves
,'here leaves are said to endure generally
proper involucrum of four oblong scales
branched spike or rather head, 6 or 8 1
three ye,ars, with a few bunches of lea'
, J inches long.
Professor Engelmann says—" I have seen branches with
were persistent for sixteen years, a fact unheard of among Pines
only three years. The stipitate ov.-il ament, 3 to 4 in. long, h.as
or br.acts of equal length."
Male catkins short, clustered round the branchlet chiefly towards the apex; the crest of the anther
unusually small, scarcely indicated by a knob. Female catkins single or two together, near the end of the
youncr shoot, bristling with the lanceolate, .aristate, erect scales, of purple-black colour. Cones oval, obtuse,
to^-l inches long, about half as much in diameter, often covered with resin .as if varnished; growing
crect or neatly 50. two or three near each other, at the termination of the small branches of the branchlcts,
cylindr!c.il obovat'e when fresh, wider and more expanded m appearance when dry and open, with eight
rows of scales on the long spiral. Scales dark purplish-brown where exposed (viz., on the apophysis),
pale fawn-colour where not exposed, the apophysis with a central rhomboidally shaped umbo, from which
springs a transverse, somewhat pyramidal mucro, terminating in a long, soft Hexible spine about 3 lines m
length, hollow at the base of the under side, rounded on the upper, with a sharp transverse keel stretchmg
across the apophysis, dividing it into two unequal divisions, the upper of which is the shortest, and with
the edges more or less rounded and longitudinally wrinkled. Bracts much .altered and apparently obsolete,
actually connate with the base of the scale, mucronate part free and membranaceous; seeds small, pale
fawn-coloured, about i l lines in length, placed obliquely to the wing which is pale, translucent, and short,
about 3 or 4 lines in length, and 2 or 2! lines in breadth. Embrj-o with seven short cotyledons.
This is a very renrarkablc species, combining much of the appearance of the foliage of a
Fir with the char.acters of a Pine, its leaves being no larger than those of a Fir. It belongs to Endlicher's
section of Pines named Psadostrobus; but the extreme shortness of its leaves, and the cone constructed
on quite a different prmciplc—for example, with a centr.al instead of a terminal umbo—would warr.ant a
new section being established for the reception of it and of one other species with equally short leaves—
viz Pinus Balfauriam. Yet it is essentially an alpine species, and on the higher ble.ak mountains is a
stunted bush often thickly covered with fruit. Dr. Engelmann, in a supplement to the " Enumeration
„f Plants," in Dr. Panys collection in the Rocky Mountains, says—" Its growth, at Ic.ast m the latter
locahties (exposed lofty situations), is exceedingly slow, as a stick of scarcely more than I inch in diameter
brought back by Dn Parry shews nearly fifty annual rings, some of them i of a line, and none more than
I of a line wide. In sheltered situations it is a tree 40 or 50 feet high, and 1 or 2 feet in di.ameter.
Prostrate and almost creeping on the bleak summits of the high ridges. It flowers in the end of June
and beginning of July" (Av.cyicm Journal of Sdenc, 2d. ser., vol. xxxiv.. No. .02, Nov. IS62).
CeogmphicalDislriiulim.-'Fanni in the heart of the Rocky Mountains, on alpine heights, between
9200 and 1 i.Soo or 12,000 feet hi.gh, on Pikes Peak and the high mountains of the Snowy Range; also
on the heights of the Coochctopa Pass, nearly south-west of Pikes Peak, altitude over 10,000 feet.
Flourishes best in the higher elevations, and never descends below 9000 feet, in its lower r.anges not
ripenin» its fruit as well as on the bleak heights. Dr. Engelmann speaks of it from this character as
being the Am
American representative of the European P PumiUo. It characterises the highest belt of
timber •
n the peaks of Colorad
History.—species seems to have been first noticcd by Captai
tion he collectcd a spccies which could not be satisfactorily determined foi
remont. On his first
nt of concs. It was
expclinoticed.
however, in the Botanical Appendix to his Report, 1S43, p, 97. The next person who ol)ser\'e«I it seems
to have been Mr, Creutzfeldt, the botanist of one of the United States Pacific Railroad Exploring
Expeditions, under Captain Gunnison. The country explored by that expedition was the district stretching
from Fort Leavenworth at the junction of Kansas and across the Missouri River, the highest part
of the range of the Rocky Mountains near Pike's Peak, and thence to the Utah or Salt Lake and Lake
Sevier. While completing their explorations about the latter lake, Captain Gunnison and a small detached
party were treacherously and barbarously murdered. They had been for some time in the district of the
Utah Indians, and were aware that they were all around them; but long-continued impunity from a
constantly threatened danger induces a reckless indifference to it, which often provokes the catastrophe.
Captain Gunnison, tempted by abundant grass, fuel, and water, was imprudent enough to encamp in a
litdc nook in a river bottom, with the river in front, shehered by the high second bank of the river on one
side, and thick willows, distant s
might unseen steal close upon them
without a thought of danger. It wi
fires had been seen daily since they
felt, as Captain Gunnison had lear
had with the emigrants had termii
peace with the neighbouring settlers, which had been cor
held with some of the Indians of this band by an agent
Lieutenant Beckwith, thus concludes the tale;—" The u
each ofthe party (including the commander) in turn havi
break of day all arose and at once engaged in the usual
reach that day the most distant part of exploration for th.
party being at breakfast, when the surrounding ipiiet ;
discharge of a \'oIley of rifles and a sliower of arrows th
yells of a large band of Pah-Utah Indians almost in the
•cely thirty yards, on two of the others, under cover of which an enemy
1, This tempting place of comfort and utility was accepted probably
•as known to the party that a band of Indians was near them, for their
entered thi
led that a r<
lated, and tl"
but an unusual feeling of security against them was
quarrel, resulting in several deaths, which they had
)twithstanding this difficulty, they had remained at
onfirmed and guaranteed for the future in a " talk"
t of the Governor of the territory. His successor,
usual precaution of a camp guanl had been taken,
Lving performed that duty during die night. At the
'alley;
tics of a camp preparatoiy to an early start to
•ason. The sun had not yet risen, most of the
I silencc of this vast plain was broken by the
igh that devoted camp, mingled with the savage
dst of the cami); for under cover of the thick
bushes they had approached undiscovered to within twenty-four yards ofthe camp-fires. The surprise was
complete. At the first discharge the call to 'seize your arms' had litdc effect. All was coiifusion.
Captain Gunnison, stepping from his tent, called to his savage murderers that he was their friend: but
this had no effect. They rushed into camp, and only those escaped who succeeded in mounting on
horseback, and even then they were pursued for many miles,"* Captain (nmnison fell pierced with
fifteen arrows. The mutilation of scalping was spared them, that being a ixirbarity in which some of the
tribes west of the Rocky Mountams seldom indulged
cutting off their arms at the elbow, took its pkice.
other mutilations of the dead, such as
The n
the opporti
Most of tl-
M(
irder proved to be the un
lity afforded by the too ;
: property and instrimier
1 Go\ ernor, Brigham Young,
having been sent for by Mr. Call, acc
one ofthe public horses lost by Capt;
who came to him with the intclliger
Mr, Call's messenger (who had been
it was done without authority by the young
with them, or it would not have hai>pened.
[35]
ithorised work of son
:essiblc site of the c
and all Captain Gunnisons
" Kenosh, the chief ofthe bai
e of the inferii
imp, had beei
papers
n of the tribe, who, seeing
ipted to make the attack,
re recovered through the
if murderers, arrived at Filmore,
ipanicd by fifteen or twenty of his people, lie brought with him
Gunnison's escort, ' which,' he said, ' he had taken from the fellow
of their successful operation, and hastened to return it, meeting
It for him) on the way; that he lieeply regretted the tragedy; that
ng men—boys, as he called them—of the band, who had no chief
He subsequently informed the Governor's agent that there