Scots pine, Pinus sylvestris

The Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) is a species of tree in the Pinaceae family naturally present in a large part of temperate and boreal Europe and as far as eastern Siberia. Its wood is sometimes referred to as “northern pine.”

It is a slender tree with a long bare trunk, whose longevity is generally 150 to 200 years but which can exceptionally live more than seven hundred years. It can reach 35 meters high but most of the time does not exceed 20-25 meters. It is recognized in particular by the ocher-red color of its bark, in the upper part of the trunk of the adult tree, the rhytidomes becoming gray as they age.

The stem of the young Scots pine is initially green then gradually becomes light brown. The winter buds are oval or ovoid and 15 millimeters long. They are red-brown and contain little or no resin. The leaves are fairly short to medium sized needles, 4 to 7 cm long on mature trees and often a little longer on young specimens. They are grouped in sets of two (“geminates”) with a common sheath at their base. These needles are quite thick and bluish green or grayish green in color, and are typically twisted. Rustic in zone 3a.