IML Tree of the Month 3: Scots Pine

A Scots Pine above Loch Maree in Torridon

Sticking with the theme of coniferous trees, the third tree in my series is the Scots Pine.  One of only three conifers native to the UK and quite possibly my favourite tree (although I do love Cedar of Lebanons!)


Identification: 
Latin Name: Pinus Sylvestris

Height: up to 35m

Leaves: needle like, blue-green, slightly twisted, grow in pairs on short side shoots, 4-7cm long

Woodland Trust

Flowers: Monoecious. Male flowers are clusters of yellow anthers at the base of shoots.  Female flowers are small, red purple, globular and grow at the tips of new shoots.

Fruits: Female flowers develop into egg shaped cones after wind pollination.  They mature the following season, meaning there are always cones of different ages on each tree.  Mature cones are grey brown with a raised circular bump at the centre of each scale.  Normally these are in clusters of 2-4 and they point backwards along the stem.

https://treesforlife.org.uk/forest/species-profiles/scots-pine/

Bark: Scaly orange brown, particularly at the top, when young it can be more of a grey green colour, develops plates and fissures with age

Woodland Trust

Twigs and buds: Twigs are grey-brown and hairless

Age: lives to 300 years, tends to lose it's lower branches as it ages

Pinus Sylvestris http://www.conifers.org/pi/pi/s/sylvestris01.jpg

Uses: 

• Widely used in joinery and the construction industry.
• Used in the manufacture of telegraph poles, gate posts, fencing
• The tree can be tapped to make turpentine from its resin
• Dry cones can used as kindling
• Used for paper pulp

Fun Facts:

• It's the National Tree of Scotland
• One of the strongest softwoods available
• Groups of pines growing along old droveways helped travellers to find where they were going in changing weather
• A Scots pine in the forest of Muirward Wood, Perthshire, has the largest trunk in the UK.  It has a height of 31m and a girth of 6.09m
• Until around 8000 years ago Scots Pine made up most of the pine forests in the UK, particularly in Scotland and North England
• The most widely distributed conifer in the world, from sea level to 2400m
• Need a high level of light to germinate and so do not often regenerate under their own canopy but rather seedlings are found in open areas and clearings.

This website has lots of really good facts about the Scots Pine's relationship with other things.