Pine

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Pine

Pines are coniferous

Pinophyta

TREE

TREE was a Boston hardcore punk band formed in the summer of 1990. They were active in the Boston music scene until disbanding in 2002....
s in the genus

Genus

A genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the classification of living and fossil organisms. The taxonomic ranks are domain , kingdom , phylum, class , order , family , genus, and species....
Pinus, in the family

Family (biology)

In biological classification, family is a taxonomic rank. Exact details of formal nomenclature depend on the Nomenclature Codes which applies....
Pinaceae

Pinaceae

The family Pinaceae , is in the order Pinales and includes many of the well-known conifers of commercial importance such as cedars, firs, Tsugas, larches, pines and spruces....
. They make up the monotypic

Monotypic

In biology, a monotype is a alpha taxonomy group with only one biological type:In botany, a monotype is a taxon that has only one species: Ginkgo is a monotypic genus, while Ginkgoaceae is a monotypic family ....
subfamily Pinoideae. There are about 115 species

Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring....
of pine, although different authorities accept between 105 and 125 species.

s are native to most of the Northern Hemisphere

Northern Hemisphere

The Northern Hemisphere is the half of a planet that is north of the equator?the word sphere literally means 'half sphere'. It is also that half of the celestial sphere north of the celestial equator....
. In Eurasia

Eurasia

Eurasia is a large landmass covering about 53,990,000 km? or about 10.6% of the Earth's surface . Often considered a single continent, Eurasia comprises the traditional continents of Europe and Asia, concepts which date back to classical antiquity and the borders for which are somewhat arbitrary....
, they range from the Canary Islands

Canary Islands

The Canary Islands are a Spain archipelago which, in turn, forms one of the Spanish Autonomous Communities and an Outermost Region of the European Union....
and Scotland

Scotland

conventional_long_name = ScotlandAlba|common_name= Scotland|image_flag = Flag of Scotland.svg|flag_width = 130px...
east to the Russian Far East

Russia

Russia , or the Russian Federation , is a list of countries spanning more than one continent country extending over much of northern Eurasia....
, and the Philippines

Philippines

The Philippines, officially known as the Republic of the Philippines, is a country in Southeast Asia with Manila as its capital city. It comprises 7,107 islands in the western Pacific Ocean....
, north to just over 70°N in Norway

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a constitutional monarchy in Northern Europe that occupies the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula....
(Scots Pine

Scots Pine

The Scots Pine is a species of pine native to Europe and Asia, ranging from Ireland, Great Britain and Portugal in the west, east to eastern Siberia, south to the Caucasus Mountains, and as far north as S?pmi ....
) and eastern Siberia

Siberia

Siberia , is the name given to the vast region constituting almost all of North Asia and for the most part currently serving as the massive central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, having served in the same capacity previously for the Soviet Union from its beginning, and the Russian Empire beginning in the 16th century....
(Siberian Dwarf Pine

Siberian Dwarf Pine

The Siberian Dwarf Pine is a native to northeastern Asia, including the islands of Japan. This shrubby pine ranges from 1-3 m in height, exceptionally up to 5 m, but may have individual branches that extend farther along the ground in length....
), and south to northernmost Africa

Africa

Africa is the world's second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km? including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area....
, the Himalaya and Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India and north of Australia....
, with one species (Sumatran Pine

Sumatran Pine

The Sumatran Pine is a pine native to southeast Asia, mainly in the mountains of northern Sumatra, and with two outlying populations, on Mount Kerinci and Mount Talang in central Sumatra, and in the Philippines on Mindoro and the Zambales Mountains of western Luzon....
) just crossing the Equator

Equator

The equator is the intersection of the Earth's surface with the Plane perpendicular to the Earth's rotation and containing the Earth's center of mass....
in Sumatra

Sumatra

Sumatra is an island in western Indonesia, westernmost of the Sunda Islands. It is the largest island entirely in Indonesia , and the list of islands by area in the world ....
to 2°S.

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Distribution

Pines are native to most of the Northern Hemisphere

Northern Hemisphere

Eurasia

Canary Islands

The Canary Islands are a Spain archipelago which, in turn, forms one of the Spanish Autonomous Communities and an Outermost Region of the European Union....
and Scotland

Scotland

conventional_long_name = ScotlandAlba|common_name= Scotland|image_flag = Flag of Scotland.svg|flag_width = 130px...
east to the Russian Far East

Russia

Russia , or the Russian Federation , is a list of countries spanning more than one continent country extending over much of northern Eurasia....
, and the Philippines

Philippines

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a constitutional monarchy in Northern Europe that occupies the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula....
(Scots Pine

Scots Pine

Siberia

Siberian Dwarf Pine

Africa

Southeast Asia

Sumatran Pine

Equator

The equator is the intersection of the Earth's surface with the Plane perpendicular to the Earth's rotation and containing the Earth's center of mass....
in Sumatra

Sumatra

Sumatra is an island in western Indonesia, westernmost of the Sunda Islands. It is the largest island entirely in Indonesia , and the list of islands by area in the world ....
to 2°S. In North America

North America

North America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and almost totally in the western hemisphere....
, they range from 66°N in Canada

Canada

Canada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean....
(Jack Pine

Jack Pine

The Jack Pine is a North American pine with its native range in Canada east of the Rocky Mountains from Northwest Territories to Nova Scotia, and the northeast of the United States from Minnesota to Maine, with the southernmost part of the range just into northwest Indiana....
) south to 12°N in Nicaragua

Nicaragua

Nicaragua officially the Republic of Nicaragua , is a representative democracy republic. It is the largest state in Central America with an area of 130,000 km2, about the size of the state of New York....
(Caribbean Pine

Caribbean Pine

The Caribbean Pine is a hardpine native to Central America, Cuba and the Bahamas and Turks and Caicos Islands.The species has three distinct variety , one very distinct and treated as a separate species by some authors:...
). The highest diversity in the genus occurs in Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federalism constitutionalism republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of Mexico....
and California

California

California is a U.S. state on the West Coast of the United States of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean. It is bordered by Oregon to the north, Nevada to the east, Arizona to the southeast, and to the south the Mexico state of Baja California....
.

Pines have been introduced in subtropical and temperate portions of the Southern Hemisphere

Southern Hemisphere

The Southern Hemisphere is the half of a planet that is south of the equator?the word sphere literally means 'half ball'. It is also that half of the celestial sphere south of the celestial equator....
, including Chile

Chile

Chile, officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long and narrow coastal strip wedged between the Andes mountains and the Pacific Ocean....
, Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is a country in South America. It is the List of countries and outlying territories by total area country by geographical area, occupying nearly half of South America, the List of countries by population country, and the fourth most populous democracy in the world....
, South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa, also known by Official names of South Africa, is a country located at the southern tip of the continent of Africa....
, Australia

Australia

Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the southern hemisphere comprising the Australia of the world's smallest continent, the major island of Tasmania, and numerous list of islands of Australia in the Indian Ocean and Pacific Oceans....
, and New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses , and numerous Islands of New Zealand, most notably Stewart Island/Rakiura and the Chatham Islands....
, where they are grown widely as a source of timber, and some species are becoming invasive

Invasive species

Invasive species is a phrase with several definitions. The first definition expresses the phrase in terms of non-indigenous species that adversely affect the habitats they invade economically, environmentally or ecologically....
.

Morphology

Pines are evergreen

Evergreen

In botany, an evergreen plant is a plant having leaf all year round. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which completely lose their foliage for part of the year....
and resin

Resin

Resin is a hydrocarbon secretion of many plants, particularly Pinophyta. It is valued for its chemical constituents and uses, such as varnishes and adhesives, as an important source of raw materials for organic synthesis, or for incense and perfume....
ous tree

TREE

TREE was a Boston hardcore punk band formed in the summer of 1990. They were active in the Boston music scene until disbanding in 2002....
s (rarely shrub

Shrub

A shrub or bush is a horticulture rather than strictly Botany category of woody plant, distinguished from a tree by its multiple stems and lower height, usually less than 5-6 m tall....
s) growing to 3–80 m tall, with the majority of species reaching between 15-45 m tall. The smallest are Siberian Dwarf Pine

Siberian Dwarf Pine

Potosi Pinyon

Potosi Pinyon is a pine in the pinyon pine group, native to northeast Mexico. The range is highly localised, confined to a small area of high summits in the northern Sierra Madre Oriental in Coahuila and Nuevo Le?n, and only abundant on the highest peak, Cerro Potos? ....
, and the tallest, Sugar Pine

Sugar Pine

The Sugar Pine is a species of pine that occurs in the mountains of Oregon and California in the western United States, and Baja California in northwestern Mexico; specifically the Sierra Nevada , the Cascade Range, the Coast Ranges, and the Sierra San Pedro Martir....
. Pines are long-lived, typically reaching ages of 100–1,000 years, some even more. The longest-lived is the Great Basin Bristlecone Pine

Great Basin Bristlecone Pine

Pinus longaeva, the Great Basin Bristlecone Pine, is a long living species of tree found in the higher mountains of the southwest United States....
Pinus longaeva, one individual of which at 4,840 years old in 2008 is one of the oldest living organisms

List of long-living organisms

This is a list of the eldest living organisms. This is usually defined as:* having a longer lifespan than other organisms of similar species ...
in the world.

The bark

BARK

BARK was an early Electromechanics. BARK was built using standard phone relays, implementing a 32-bit binary machine and could perform addition in 150 ms and multiplication in 250 ms....
of most pines is thick and scaly, but some species have thin, flaking bark. The branches are produced in regular "pseudo whorls", actually a very tight spiral

Spiral

In mathematics, a spiral is a curve which emanates from a central point, getting progressively farther away as it revolves around the point....
but appearing like a ring of branches arising from the same point. Many pines are uninodal, producing just one such whorl of branches each year, from bud

Bud

In botany, a bud is an undeveloped or Plant embryogenesis shoot and normally occurs in the axil of a leaf or at the tip of the Plant stem. Once formed, a bud may remain for some time in a dormant condition, or it may form a shoot immediately....
s at the tip of the year's new shoot

Plant stem

A stem is one of two main structural axes of a vascular plant. The stem is normally divided into nodes and internodes, the nodes hold buds which grow into one or more leaf, inflorescence , conifer cones or other stems etc....
, but others are multinodal, producing two or more whorls of branches per year. The spiral growth of branches, needles and cone scales are arranged in Fibonacci number

Fibonacci number

In mathematics, the Fibonacci numbers are a sequence of numbers named after Leonardo of Pisa, known as Fibonacci . Fibonacci's 1202 book Liber Abaci introduced the sequence to Western European mathematics, although the sequence had been previously described in Indian mathematics....
ratios. The new spring shoots are sometimes called "candles"; they are covered in brown or whitish bud scales and point upward at first, then later turn green and spread outward. These "candles" offer forester

Forester

A forester is a person who practices forestry, the science and profession of managing forests. Foresters engage in a broad range of activities including timber harvesting, ecological restoration and management of protected areas....
s a means to evaluate fertility

Fertility

Fertility is the natural capability of giving life. As a measure, "fertility rate" is the number of children born per couple, person or population....
of the soil and vigour of the trees.

Foliage

Pines have four types of leaves

Leaf

In botany, a leaf is an above-ground plant Organ specialized for photosynthesis. For this purpose, a leaf is typically flat and thin, to expose the cells containing chloroplast to light over a broad area, and to allow light to penetrate fully into the tissues....
:

Seed leaves (cotyledon
Cotyledon

A cotyledon is a significant part of the embryo within the seed of a plant. Upon germination, the cotyledon may become the embryonic first leaf of a seedling....
s) on seedlings, borne in a whorl of 4-24.

Juvenile leaves, which follow immediately on seedlings and young plants, 2-6 cm long, single, green or often blue-green, and arranged spirally on the shoot. These are produced for six months to five years, rarely longer.

Scale leaves, similar to bud scales, small, brown and non-photosynthetic, and arranged spirally like the juvenile leaves.

Needles, the adult leaves, which are green (photosynthetic), bundled in clusters (fascicles) of (1-) 2-5 (-6) needles together, each fascicle produced from a small bud
Bud

In botany, a bud is an undeveloped or Plant embryogenesis shoot and normally occurs in the axil of a leaf or at the tip of the Plant stem. Once formed, a bud may remain for some time in a dormant condition, or it may form a shoot immediately....
on a dwarf shoot in the axil of a scale leaf. These bud scales often remain on the fascicle as a basal sheath. The needles persist for 1.5-40 years, depending on species. If a shoot is damaged (e.g. eaten by an animal), the needle fascicles just below the damage will generate a bud which can then replace the lost leaves.

Cones

Pines are mostly monoecious

Plant sexuality

Conifer cone

A cone is an organ on plants in the division Pinophyta that contains the plant sexuality structures. The familiar woody cone is the female cone, which produces seeds....
on the same tree, though a few species are sub-dioecious

Plant sexuality

Plant sexuality covers the wide variety of sexual reproduction systems found across the plant kingdom. This article describes Morphology aspects of sexual reproduction of plants....
with individuals predominantly, but not wholly, single-sex. The male cones are small, typically 1-5 cm long, and only present for a short period (usually in spring, though autumn in a few pines), falling as soon as they have shed their pollen

Pollen

Pollen is a fine to coarse powder consisting of Gametophyte , which produce the male gametes of spermatophyta. A hard coat covering the pollen grain protects the sperm cells during the process of their movement between the stamens of the flower to the pistil of the next flower....
. The female cones take 1.5-3 years (depending on species) to mature after pollination

Pollination

Pollination in flowering plants and gymnosperms is the process that transfers pollen, which contain the male gametes to where the female gamete are contained within the carpel; in gymnosperms the pollen is directly applied to the ovule itself....
, with actual fertilization delayed one year. At maturity the female cones are 3-60 cm long. Each cone has numerous spirally arranged scales, with two seeds on each fertile scale; the scales at the base and tip of the cone are small and sterile, without seeds. The seeds are mostly small and winged, and are anemophilous (wind-dispersed), but some are larger and have only a vestigial wing, and are bird

Bird

Birds are wing, Bipedalismal, endothermic , vertebrate animals that lay egg . There are around 10,000 living species, making them the most numerous tetrapod vertebrates....
-dispersed (see below). At maturity, the cones usually open to release the seeds, but in some of the bird-dispersed species (e.g. Whitebark Pine

Whitebark Pine

The Whitebark Pine occurs in the mountains of the Western United States and Canada, specifically the subalpine areas of the Sierra Nevada , the Cascade Range, the Pacific Coast Ranges, and the northern Rocky Mountains ....
), the seeds are only released by the bird breaking the cones open. In others, the fire climax pines (e.g. Monterey Pine

Monterey Pine

Pinus radiata is known in English as Monterey Pine in some parts of the world , and Radiata Pine in others .It is a species of pine native to coastal California in three very limited areas in Santa Cruz County, California, Monterey County, California and San Luis Obispo County, California Counties, and on Guadalupe Island...
, Pond Pine

Pond Pine

The Pond Pine is a tree found along the Atlantic Ocean coastal plain of the Eastern United States United States, from southern New Jersey south to Florida and west to southern Alabama....
), the seeds are stored in closed ("serotinous") cones for many years until a forest fire kills the parent tree; the cones are also opened by the heat and the stored seeds are then released in huge numbers to re-populate the burnt ground.

Classification

Pines are divided into three subgenera, based on cone, seed and leaf characters:

Subgenus Strobus
Pinus classification

There are three main subgenera of Pine, the subgenus Strobus , the subgenus Ducampopinus , and the subgenus Pinus . This classification into the three subgenera is based on cone, seed and leaf characters:...
(white or soft pines). Cone scale without a sealing band. Umbo terminal. Seedwings adnate. One fibrovascular bundle per leaf.
Subgenus Ducampopinus
Pinus classification

There are three main subgenera of Pine, the subgenus Strobus , the subgenus Ducampopinus , and the subgenus Pinus . This classification into the three subgenera is based on cone, seed and leaf characters:...
(pinyon, lacebark and bristlecone pines). Cone scale without a sealing band. Umbo dorsal. Seedwings articulate. One fibrovascular bundle per leaf.
Subgenus Pinus
Pinus classification

There are three main subgenera of Pine, the subgenus Strobus , the subgenus Ducampopinus , and the subgenus Pinus . This classification into the three subgenera is based on cone, seed and leaf characters:...
(yellow or hard pines). Cone scale with a sealing band. Umbo dorsal. Seedwings articulate. Two fibrovascular bundles per leaf.

Ecology

Pines grow well in acid soil

Soil

Soil is the naturally occurring, unconsolidated or loose covering on the Earth's surface. Soil is composed of particles of broken rock that have been altered by chemical and environmental processes including weathering and erosion....
s, some also on calcareous soils; most require good soil drainage, preferring sandy soils, but a few, e.g. Lodgepole Pine

Lodgepole Pine

Lodgepole Pine is a common tree in western North America. Like all pines, it is evergreen.There are three subspecies, one of them with two Variety ....
, will tolerate poorly drained wet soils. A few are able to sprout after forest fires, e.g. Canary Island Pine

Canary Island Pine

The Canary Island Pine is a species in the genus Pine, family Pinaceae, native and endemism to the outer Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean....
. Some species of pines, e.g. Bishop Pine

Bishop Pine

The Bishop Pine is a pine with a very restricted range: mostly California, USA, including some offshore islands, and a few locations in Baja California, Mexico, and always on or near the coast, from Trinidad, California in Humboldt County, California south to San Vicente in Baja California....
, need fire to regenerate and their populations slowly decline under fire suppression regimes. Several species are adapted to extreme conditions imposed by elevation and latitude; see e.g. Siberian Dwarf Pine

Siberian Dwarf Pine

Mountain Pine

Mountain Pine or Mugo Pine is a high-altitude European pine, found in the Pyrenees, Alps, Erzgebirge, Carpathian Mountains, northern Apennine Mountains and Balkans mountains from 1,000 m to 2,200 m, occasionally as low as 200 m in the north of the range in Germany and Poland, and as high as 2,700 m in the south of the range in Bulgari...
, Whitebark Pine

Whitebark Pine

Bristlecone pine

The bristlecone pines are a small group of pine trees that are thought to reach an age far greater than that of any other single living organism known, up to nearly 5,000 years....
s. The pinyon pine

Pinyon pine

The pinyon pine group grows in the southwestern United States and in Mexico. The trees yield edible pine nut, which were a staple of the Indigenous people of the Americas, and are still widely eaten....
s and a number of others, notably Turkish Pine

Turkish Pine

The Turkish pine is a pine native to the eastern Mediterranean region. The bulk of its range is in Turkey, but it also extends to the East Aegean Islands of Greece, the Crimea, Iran, Georgia , Azerbaijan, northern Iraq, western Syria, Lebanon, and Cyprus....
, are particularly well adapted to growth in hot, dry semi-desert

Désert

?D?sert? is ?milie Simon's debut single, released in October 2002. The song was a huge success both critically and commercially in her homeland....
climates.

The seed

Seed

A seed is a small Plant embryogenesis plant enclosed in a covering called the seed coat, usually with some Food storage. It is the product of the ripened ovule of gymnosperm and angiosperm plants which occurs after fertilization and some growth within the mother plant....
s are commonly eaten by bird

Bird

Birds are wing, Bipedalismal, endothermic , vertebrate animals that lay egg . There are around 10,000 living species, making them the most numerous tetrapod vertebrates....
s and squirrel

Squirrel

File:Eichh?rnchen D?sseldorf Hofgarten edit.jpgA squirrel is one of many small or medium-sized rodents in the family Sciuridae. In the English language-speaking world, squirrel commonly refers to members of this family's genus Sciurus and Tamiasciurus, which are tree squirrels with large bushy tails, indigenous to Asia, the America...
s. Some birds, notably the Spotted Nutcracker

Spotted Nutcracker

The Spotted Nutcracker, Eurasian Nutcracker, or just Nutcracker, is a passerine bird slightly larger than the Eurasian Jay. It has a much larger bill and a slimmer looking head without any crest....
, Clark's Nutcracker

Clark's Nutcracker

The Clark's Nutcracker , is a large passerine bird, in the family Corvidae. It is slightly smaller than its Eurasian relative Spotted Nutcracker ....
and Pinyon Jay

Pinyon Jay

The Pinyon Jay is a jay between the North American Blue Jay and the Eurasian Jay in size. It is the only member of the genus Gymnorhinus, ....
, are of importance in distributing pine seeds to new areas. Pine needles are sometimes eaten by some Lepidoptera

Lepidoptera

Lepidoptera is an order of insect that includes moths and butterfly. It is one of the most speciose orders in the class Insecta, encompassing moths and the three superfamilies of butterfly, skipper , and Hedylidae....
(butterfly

Butterfly

A butterfly is an insect of the Order Lepidoptera. Like all Lepidoptera, butterflies are notable for their unusual Biological life cycle with a larval caterpillar stage, an inactive pupal stage, and a spectacular metamorphosis into a familiar and colourful winged adult form....
and moth

Moth

A moth is an insect closely related to the butterfly, both being of the Order Lepidoptera. The differences between butterflies and moths are more than just taxonomy....
) species (see list of Lepidoptera that feed on pines) and also the Symphytan species Pine sawfly.

Uses

Pines are among the most commercially important of tree species, valued for their timber

Timber

Timber may refer to:* Lumber, i.e. wood materials* Timber, Oregon, an unincorporated community in the U.S. state of Oregon* Timber , a 1984 arcade game by Bally Midway...
and wood pulp

Wood pulp

Pulp is a dry fibrous material prepared by chemically or mechanically separating fibers from wood or fiber crops.Pulp can be either fluffy or formed into thick sheets....
throughout the world. In temperate and tropical regions, they are fast-growing softwood

Softwood

Softwood is timber obtained from coniferous trees . With the exception of bald cypress, tamarack, and larch, softwood trees are evergreens. Softwood is mostly obtained from the Baltic, Scandinavia, and North America and is the source of about 80% of the world's production of timber....
s that will grow in relatively dense stands, their acidic decaying needles inhibiting the sprouting of competing hardwoods. Commercial pines are grown in plantation

Plantation

A plantation is usually a large farm or Estate , especially in a tropical or semitropical country, like Brazil or Nicaragua on which cotton, tobacco, lice coffee, sugar cane and the like are cultivated, usually by resident laborers....
s for timber that is denser, more resinous, and therefore more durable than spruce

Spruce

A spruce is a tree of the genus Picea, a genus of about 35 species of coniferous evergreen trees in the Family Pinaceae, found in the northern temperate and boreal regions of the earth....
(Picea). Pine wood is widely used in high-value carpentry items such as furniture, window frames, paneling, floors and roofing.

The resin

Resin

Turpentine

Turpentine is a fluid obtained by the distillation of resin obtained from trees, mainly pine trees. It is composed of terpenes, mainly the monoterpenes alpha-Pinene and beta-Pinene....
. See also pitch

Pitch (resin)

Pitch is the name for any of a number of highly viscosity liquids which appear solid. Pitch can be made from petroleum products or plants. Petroleum-derived pitch is also called bitumen....
.

Many pine species make attractive ornamental plantings for park

Park

A park is a Environmental protection, in its natural or semi-natural state or planted, and set aside for human recreation and enjoyment....
s and larger garden

Garden

A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the display, cultivation, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The garden can incorporate both natural and man-made materials....
s, with a variety of dwarf cultivar

Cultivar

A cultivar is a cultivated plant that has been selected and given a unique name because of its decorative or useful characteristics; it is usually distinct from similar plants and when Plant propagation it retains those characteristics....
s being suitable for smaller spaces. Pines are also commercially grown and harvested for Christmas tree

Christmas tree

File:Christmas Tree.JPGThe Christmas tree is one of the most popular traditions associated with the celebration of Christmas. Normally an evergreen Pinophyta tree that is brought into a home or used in the open, a Christmas tree is decorated with Christmas lights and colourful Christmas ornaments during the days around Christmas....
s. Pine cones, the largest and most durable of all conifer cone

Conifer cone

A cone is an organ on plants in the division Pinophyta that contains the plant sexuality structures. The familiar woody cone is the female cone, which produces seeds....
s are craft favorites. Pines boughs, always appreciated, especially in wintertime for their pleasant smell and greenery, are popularly cut for decorations.

Because this coniferous

Pinophyta

The conifers, division Pinophyta, also known as division Coniferae, are one of 13 or 14 division level taxon within the Plant. They are Conifer cone-bearing seed plants with Vascular plant tissue; all extant conifers are woody plants, the great majority being trees with just a few being shrubs....
species has no insect or decay resistance qualities after logging, it is generally recommended for construction purposes as indoor use only (ex. indoor drywall framing). This wood left outside can not be expected to last more than 12-18 months depending on the type of climate it is exposed to. It is commonly referred to as several different names which include North American timber, SPF (spruce, pine, fir) and whitewood.

Pine needles serve as food for various Lepidoptera

Lepidoptera

List of Lepidoptera which feed on Pines

Pines are used as food plants by the larvae of a number of Lepidoptera species including:...
.

Food uses

Some species have large seed

Seed

Pine nut

Pine nuts are the edible seeds of pines . About 20 species of pine produce seeds large enough to be worth harvesting; in other pines the seeds are also edible, but are too small to be of value as a human food....
s, that are harvested and sold for cooking and baking.

The soft, moist, white inner bark (cambium

Vascular cambium

The vascular cambium is a lateral meristem in the vascular tissue of plants. The vascular cambium is the source of both the secondary xylem and the secondary phloem , and is located between these tissues in the stem and root....
) found clinging to the woody outer bark

BARK

Vitamin A

Vitamin A, a bi-polar molecule formed with bi-polar covalent bonds between carbon and hydrogen, is linked to a family of similarly shaped molecules, the retinoids, which complete the remainder of the vitamin sequence....
and C

Vitamin C

Vitamin C or ascorbic acid is an essential nutrient for humans, a large number of simian species, a small number of other mammalian species , a few species of birds, and some fish....
. It can be eaten raw in slices as a snack or dried and ground up into a powder for use as a thickener in stews, soups, and other foods, such as pine bread

Cuisine of Finland

File:Karjalanpiirakka-20060227.jpgThe cuisine of Finland is notable for the use of wholemeal products and berries . Milk and its derivatives like buttermilk are commonly used as food, drink or in various recipes....
. A tea made by steeping young, green pine needles in boiling water (known as "tallstrunt" in Sweden) is high in vitamins A and C.

Etymology

The modern English

English language

English is a West Germanic language that originated in Anglo-Saxon England and has lingua franca status in many parts of the world as a result of the military, economic, scientific, political and cultural influence of the British Empire in the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries and that of the United States from the mid 20th century onwa...
name pine derives from Latin

Latin

Latin is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Military history of the Roman Empire, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe....
Pinus by way of French

French language

French is a Romance language spoken around the world by around 80 million people as first language, by 190 million as second language, and by about another 200 million people as an acquired tongue, with significant speakers in 54 countries....
pin; similar names are used in other Romance languages

Romance languages

The Romance languages are a branch of the Indo-European languages comprising all the languages that descend from Latin language, the language of ancient Rome....
. In the past (pre-19th century) they were often known as fir, from Old Norse fyrre, by way of Middle English

Middle English

Middle English is the name given by historical linguistics to the diverse forms of the English language spoken between the Norman conquest of England of 1066 and about 1470, when the #Chancery Standard, a form of London-based English, began to become widespread, a process aided by the introduction of the printing press into England by William...
firre. The Old Norse name is still used for pines in some modern north European languages, in Danish

Danish language

Danish is one of the North Germanic languages , a sub-group of the Germanic languages branch of the Indo-European languages. It is spoken by around 6 million people, mainly in Denmark; the language is also used by the 50,000 Danes in the northern parts of Schleswig-Holstein in Germany where it holds the status of minority language....
, fyr, in Norwegian

Norwegian language

Norwegian is a North Germanic languages language spoken primarily in Norway, where it is an official language. It is also spoken as a second language among Norwegian-Americans in the United States of America, especially in the central northern states....
and Swedish

Swedish language

Swedish is a North Germanic languages language, spoken by around 10 million people, predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along the coast and on the ?land islands....
, furu, and Föhre in German

German language

German is a West Germanic languages, thus related to and classified alongside English language and Dutch language. It is one of the world's world language and the most widely spoken mother tongue in the European Union....
, but in modern English, "fir" is now restricted to Fir

Fir

Firs are a genus of between 45-55 species of evergreen Pinophyta in the family Pinaceae. All are trees, reaching heights of 10-80 m tall and trunk diameters of 0.5-4 m when mature....
(Abies) and Douglas-fir
Douglas-fir

Douglas-fir is the English name applied in common to evergreen Pinophyta trees of the genus Pseudotsuga in the family Pinaceae. There are five species, two in western North America, one in Mexico, and two in eastern Asia....
(Pseudotsuga).