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Pinus halepensis



Pinus halepensis - Aleppo pine, Jerusalem pine
  • Pinus halepensis - Aleppo pine, Jerusalem pine  - Click to enlarge
  • Pinus halepensis cones - Click to enlarge
  • Pinus halepensis forest - Click to enlarge

 

Scientific name: Pinus halepensis  P.Miller  1768

Synonyms: Pinus abasica hort. ex Carrière, Pinus abchasica hort. ex Carrière, Pinus alepensis Poir., Pinus arabica Sieber ex Spreng., Pinus carica D.Don, Pinus ceciliae Llorens & L.Llorens, Pinus colchica Booth ex Gordon, Pinus genuensis J.Cook, Pinus halepensis subsp. ceciliae (Llorens & L.Llorens) Silba, Pinus halepensis var. abasica (hort. ex Carrière) Carrière, Pinus halepensis var. carica (D.Don) Carrière, Pinus halepensis var. ceciliae (Llorens & L.Llorens) L.Llorens ex Rosselló, Cubas & N.Torres, Pinus halepensis var. genuensis (J.Cook) Antoine, Pinus halepensis var. minor Antoine, Pinus halepensis var. pendula P.P.Ferrer & R.Ferrer, Pinus hierosolimitana Duhamel, Pinus hispanica J.Cook, Pinus loiseleuriana Carrière, Pinus maritima Aiton, Pinus maritima Mill., Pinus paroliniana Webb ex Carrière, Pinus parolinii Vis., Pinus penicillus Lapeyr., Pinus pseudohalepensis Denhardt ex Carrière, Pinus saportae Rouy 

Common names: Aleppo pine, Jerusalem pine (English), Pin d'Alep, Pin de Jérusalem (French), Pino d'Aleppo, Pino di Geruzalemme (Italian), Pino de Alepo, Pino Carrasco, Pino blanquillo (Spain)

 

Description

Tree to 20(-40) m tall, often shrubby on harsh sites. Trunk to 1(-1.2) m in diameter, often dividing near the base. Bark reddish brown to silver gray and long remaining smooth, finally becoming reddish brown, thick and deeply ridged and furrowed. Crown broadly conical to dome-shaped, flattening and opening up with age, with numerous upwardly angled to horizontal branches well clothed with foliage. Twigs reddish brown to grayish brown, hairless, smooth. Buds 7-12 mm long, not resinous. Needles in bundles of two (or three), each needle (3.5-)6-18(-23) cm long, slender and flexible to thick and stiff, lasting 2(-3) years, bright to dark green. Individual needles with inconspicuous, evenly spaced lines of stomates on both the inner and outer faces, and (1-)3-8(-11) large resin canals surrounding the two-stranded midvein but touching the outer surface of the needle. Sheath 7-13(-16) mm long, weathering to 3-9 mm and persisting and falling with the bundle. Pollen cones densely clustered, about 7-10 mm long, yellowish brown with a reddish flush. Seed cones (4.5-)6-10(-12) cm long, conical to egg-shaped, with (60-)70-90 seed scales, green before maturity, ripening shiny reddish brown, opening only slowly when ripe and persisting several years before falling off the inconspicuous to pronounced thick stalk 3-22 mm long. Seed scales paddle-shaped, the exposed face diamond-shaped, crossed by a ridge, fairly flat to evidently bulging, the diamond-shaped umbo often a little indented, without a prickle. Seed body 5-9 mm long, the firmly attached wing another (12-)15-24(-28) mm longer.

Both the species and common name honor the ancient northwestern Syrian city of Aleppo and surrounding province of Haleb, where forest of it once grew.

Paul Cézanne had an Aleppo pine in his garden at Aix-en-Provence; this tree was the inspiration and model for his painting The Big Trees. As of 2005, the tree is still growing in Cézanne's garden.

Discontinuous throughout the Mediterranean and Black Sea basins and west to the western end of the Atlas Mountains in Morocco and east to Kurdistan in northern Iraq. Forming pure, open stands or mixed with other evergreens on dry slopes; 0-800(-1,700) m.

 

Conservation Status

Red List Category & Criteria: Least Concern

Pinus halepensis has a very extensive extent of occurrence and although considered threatened locally (Algarve in Portugal, Costa Brava in Spain) elsewhere it is stable or perhaps expanding as its economic use for timber has at least in its native habitat diminished. The species is listed as Least Concern.

Aleppo pine grows in the hotter parts of the Mediterranean coast, where brush and forest fires are frequent. Despite this, its seed cones are only semi-serotinous and do open in the absence of fire in the heat of the sun. Although closed stands exist, it is more commonly scattered in maquis or garrigue vegetation on sunny hills and slopes down to the sea shore, most commonly on limestone and dolomite. In stands where fire has been absent for a longer period, oaks (Quercus suber, Quercus ilex) invade and will eventually dominate. Presumably increased frequency of fire caused by human activities gives the advantage to Pinus halepensis. Its altitudinal range is from sea level to ca. 1,700 m (in Morocco).

Coastal development, especially for tourist accommodation, has reduced the area of occupancy locally. Fires commonly destroy stands, but the species is fire adapted and unless fires are too frequent, it will regenerate.

The wood of Aleppo pine, due to size and shape of most trees and poor quality, is of little value as timber. It is presently used as firewood and for charcoal burning, in the past it served for mine props, railway sleepers, and telephone poles. It is rich in resin and still tapped locally for that product; plantations have been established for this use in Greece. Witches’ brooms are common in this pine and could be a source of dwarf cultivars in Mediterranean countries; the species is generally not hardy in more northern latitudes. It has been planted as wind breaks and to stop soil erosion on dry slopes. Ill-considered plantations established in the southern hemisphere have given rise to invasiveness of this species; in Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa Pinus halepensis is now a serious weed threatening natural and often species-rich vegetation as well as land used for agriculture.

This species is present in several protected areas.

 

Cultivars

Pinus halepensis ‘Brevifolia’                             
Pinus halepensis ‘Cedar’s Lemon’                      
Pinus halepensis ‘Kapunda’                                
Pinus halepensis ‘Murat’                                    
Pinus halepensis ‘Nana’                                      
Pinus halepensis ‘Rotundata’                              
Pinus halepensis ‘Variegata’                

 

References

  • Farjon, A. (2010). A Handbook of the World's Conifers. Koninklijke Brill, Leiden.
  • Eckenwalder, J.E. (2009) Conifers of the World: The Complete Reference. Timber Press, Portland.
  • IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources. Cambridge, UK /Gland, Switzerland

Copyright © Aljos Farjon, James E. Eckenwalder, IUCN, Conifers Garden. All rights reserved.

 


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