Scotch Pine or Scots Pine

(Pinaceae - Pine Family)

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• Form
  • large evergreen specimen tree
  • maturing at about 40' tall by 30' wide under urban conditions, but much larger under optimum conditions or in its native habitat
  • irregular pyramidal growth habit in early youth, but quickly becoming flat-topped, scalloped, open, or irregular in shape by late youth and throughout maturity
  • medium growth rate when young, becoming slow with age

• Culture
  • full sun to partial shade
  • prefers a moist, well-drained, acidic soil in full sun, but is adaptable to a variety of poor soil, soil pH, and dry soil conditions
  • propagated by seeds
  • Pine Family, with several potential disease (Diplodia Tip Blight [also known as Sphaeropsis]) and pest (Pine Sawfly Larvae, scale) problems that normally do not manifest themselves
  • abundantly available in ball and burlap form
  • often sheared during nursery production (or Christmas tree production) for a fuller, more dense, and uniformly upright appearance at transplanting
  • great variability exists within the species as to upright versus sprawling branching character, foliage color, and vigor

• Foliage
  • green to bluish-green needles occur as two per bundle, typically from 2" to 3" long, stiff and often distinctly twisting, and persisting for about three years on the twigs
  • needles often develop a chartreuse-brown cast during the Winter, but recover their blue-green color in Spring

• Flowers
  • staminate flowers are yellowish and clustered as short catkins, while pistillate flowers are green immature "cones", flowering during April and May and often unnoticed

• Fruits
  • 2" brown cones are often present in noticeable quantity on mature trees, but not ornamentally significant

• Twigs
  • green when young, becoming brown and rough by the second year, usually twisting, very dense, and somewhat pendulous on the lower branches of mature trees

• Trunk
  • fissured gray to red-brown bark occurs at the lower portions of the trunk, but becomes bright orange and exfoliating on the upper half of the tree (once the tree reaches about 15' in height or taller); rather ornamental and a good identification feature for the species

• ID Summary
  • twisting blue-green pairs of needles to 3" long, an irregular or scalloped crown by mid-age, and distinctly orange exfoliating bark on the upper half of the trunk are distinguishing traits for this evergreen tree

• Function
  • used as a single specimen or in group plantings as a picturesque evergreen tree for moderately stressful sites; otherwise found in mass plantings or as a space-filler at wastelands and neglected sites

• Texture
  • medium texture in youth, but bold texture with age
  • thick density

• Assets
  • vivid light-orange bark on the upper half of mature trees
  • bluish-green twisted needles
  • pyramidal growth habit in youth, becoming picturesque with an irregular to scalloped crown with age
  • popular and relatively inexpensive Christmas tree (cut trees sometimes have their needles spray-painted blue to increase their saleability)
  • cold hardiness (to zones 2 or 3, depending upon selection)

• Liabilities
  • relatively slow growth rate with age (as compared to the youthful medium rate)
  • not at all symmetrical or uniformly shaped with age (it develops "character")
  • needles often turn a subtle chartreuse-brown in Winter, especially in wind-exposed areas of the canopy

• Habitat
  • zones 2 (or 3) to 8
  • native to large expanses of Europe and Asia (and hence the genetic variability due to widely different seed sources)

• Alternates
  • trees with colorful ornamental bark (Acer griseum, Betula nigra, Betula papyrifera, Ulmus parvifolia, Zelkova serrata, etc.) or picturesque rugged shape with maturity (Carya ovata, Pinus strobus, Quercus alba, Salix babylonica, etc.)

• Variants
  • Pinus sylvestris 'Glauca Nana' (or 'Nana') - a small to medium-sized shrub, slowly maturing at 5' tall by 6' wide, with distinctly blue-green twisted needles having a hint of silver, and sometimes grafted onto a standard
  • Pinus sylvestris 'Watereri' - a compact, upright, pyramidal form that is slow-growing, to about 12' tall and wide, with gray-blue needles

• Translation
  • Pinus is the Latin name for pine.
  • sylvestris translates as "of forests".

• Purpose
  • Scotch Pine is an evergreen tree that develops ornamental bark and a bold, irregular character with age.

• Summary
  • Pinus sylvestris is a blue-green twisting-foliaged, medium- to slow-growing, evergreen tree with orange bark on the upper half of its mature trunks, having an upright pyramidal growth habit in youth that becomes irregular with age, ideal for stressful or neglected areas, and also a popular and relatively inexpensive Christmas tree.