Blue Pine
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 Blue Pine at Tortworth Court arboretum
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| Pinus wallichiana A. B. Jacks. |
The Blue Pine (Pinus wallichiana) is a pine native to the Himalaya, Karakoram and Hindu Kush mountains, from eastern Afghanistan east to Yunnan in southwest China. It grows at high altitudes in mountain valleys at altitudes of 1800-4300 m (rarely as low as 1200 m), and is a tree from 30-50 m in height. It grows in a temperate climate with dry winters and wet summers.
This pine is also called the Himalayan White Pine. In the past it was also often known as 'Bhutan Pine', but this is now avoided to reduce confusion with the more recently-described Pinus bhutanica, a closely related species. In the past, Blue Pine was also known by the invalid Latin names "Pinus griffithii" McClelland or "Pinus excelsa" Wall., and was also known as "Pinus chylla" Lodd. when the tree became available through the European nursery trade in 1836, nine years after Dr Wallich first introduced seeds to England.
The leaves ("needles") are in fascicles (bundles) of five and are 12-18 cm long, and often droop gracefully. The cones are long and slender, 16-32 cm, yellow-buff when mature, with thin scales; the seeds are 5-6 mm long with a 20-30 mm wing.
Typical habitats are mountain screes and glacier forelands, but it will also form old growth forests as the primary species or in mixed forests with Deodar Cedar, birch, spruce, and fir. In some places it reaches the tree-line.
[edit] Uses
The wood is moderately hard, durable and highly resinous. It is a good firewood but gives off a pungent resinous smoke. It is another commercial source of turpentine which is superior quality than that of Chir Pine (P. roxburghii) but is not produced so freely.
It is also a popular tree for planting in parks and large gardens, grown for its attractive foliage and large, decorative cones. It is also valued for its relatively high resistance to air pollution, tolerating this better than some other conifers.
[edit] References and external links
- Conifer Specialist Group (1998). Pinus wallichiana. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 12 May 2006.
- Gymnosperm Database: Pinus wallichiana
- Photo of cones (scroll half-way down)
- Plants for a future
