Geographical Variation in the Turpentine of Bishop Pine

Abstract

In a survey of turpentine composition in Pinus muricata and P. remorata, 58 samples representing eight localities in western North America were analysed by vapour-phase chromatography. The results indicate that mainland P. muricata can be divided into three distinct chemical races with separate geographic distributions. In the cue of the northern and southern forms, the difference in turpentine composition is correlated with important morphological differences recognised by earlier workers. The two central populations, which contain a third type of turpentine, are, however, morphologically dissimilar. For this reason Taxonomic Subdivision of the species is difficult. The turpentine of P. remorata from Santa Cruz Island is similar to that of the southern mainland populations of P. muricata, supporting a previous suggestion that the insular form deserves only varietal recognition within the latter species. © 1964, Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. All rights reserved.