I have mentioned the three commonest conifers which flourish in England, and have pointed out that only one of them--the Pinus sylvestris, or Scots fir--is really indigenous to our islands. It extends all over Europe, except the extreme south and west, and right through Russian Asia. In the Alps, at the height of 3000 to 5000 feet, it is represented by a dwarf recumbent species, the Pinus montana, or P. pumilio. There is another really native conifer in Britain which belongs to a peculiar family, that of the cypresses. This is the common juniper, called by botanists "Juniperus communis," a mere shrub, but still a beautiful little thing, noticeable for the fine perfume of its leaves, which is used for flavouring "gin," and for its peculiar minute and compact berry-like cones. It has a very wide range, flourishing throughout the north temperate region of Europe, Asia, and America. There is another juniper well known in England, namely, the Savin (Juniperus Sabina). This is not a native, but was introduced before 1548. It has powerful medicinal properties.
When we spend our holidays abroad in Switzerland or on the Mediterranean shores we come across many other flourishing, well-established kinds of pines, firs, and cypresses. And we need not leave England in order to make acquaintance with a very large number which have been introduced from abroad into plantations and parks, and grow under favourable circumstances, but cannot be said to have established themselves as naturalized inhabitants. Among those more anciently introduced is the cedar of Lebanon; of later introduction we have the Indian cedar or deodar, and the Weymouth pine, Pinus Strobus, a North American tree. Still later a veritable crowd of American, Himalayan, Japanese, and Chinese pine trees of one kind and another have been introduced by dealers and their rich clients, the owners of park plantations, so that it is now far easier to see in the grounds around great English houses all sorts of pine trees from remote regions of the earth than the British species, or those interesting European kinds which have some kind of community with them, and are, at any rate, objects of interest to the naturalist whose familiar ground is that of Europe. Most people are utterly perplexed by the number of kinds, and do not know one from another.