Foxtail pine

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Foxtail pine
Foxtail pine (Pinus balfouriana)

Foxtail pine ( Pinus balfouriana )

Systematics
Class : Coniferopsida
Order : Conifers (Coniferales)
Family : Pine family (Pinaceae)
Subfamily : Pinoideae
Genre : Pine ( Pinus )
Type : Foxtail pine
Scientific name
Pinus balfouriana
Grev. & Balf.

The foxtail pine ( Pinus balfouriana ) is a species of the genus pine ( Pinus ) within the pine family (Pinaceae). It is native to California. Individual specimens can live up to 2,110 years.

Foxtail pine ( Pinus balfouriana ) in the Sierra Nevada

description

Habitus

The foxtail pine grows as an evergreen tree that reaches heights of up to 21.3 meters and a diameter of up to 2.6 meters at chest height . On average, it reaches heights of growth between 6 and 15 meters and a breast height of between 30 and 60 centimeters. Since the species hardly grows in closed stands, it usually has a highly irregular stem and crown shape. The trunk base of the mostly very felling trunk is very strong. The trunk usually ends in a dry tip. Even at the tree line, the foxtail pine does not grow in the shape of a shrub, but always forms an upright, but sometimes inclined trunk. The branches of the upper crown are relatively long.

bark

The smooth bark of branches and young trunks is light gray in color. It later turns cinnamon brown and becomes irregularly cracked. Old trees usually have a trunk in which only a narrow strip of bark has remained that extends to the crown. Young twigs have dark brown bark and are initially hairy irregularly.

Wood

The soft wood is yellow-brown in color and of medium weight. The parenchyma is relatively thick-walled and has numerous simple pits.

Foliage

The relatively stiff needles are 2 to 4 centimeters long. They are entire and sharply pointed. The top of the needle is deep green, while the bottom of the needle is gray-green and has white stomatal stripes . They are relatively dense, especially in the tip areas of the shoots, and are slightly curved towards the branch. The needles are always five on short shoots and form a rosette around the base of the bundle. They give this species its name. If you grind the needles, they give off a pleasant aromatic scent. The needles stay on the tree for between 10 and 20 years.

Flowers, cones and seeds

The foxtail jaw becomes manable at around 20 years of age. The flowering period extends from July to August. The position and structure of the cones is no different from other types of pine. The male cones are colored yellow. The very short-stalked cones taper towards the tip and are between 7 and 13 centimeters long and up to 5 centimeters wide. Immature cones are dull black-blue in color. They ripen in September to October of the second year and are then dark red-brown. The narrow cone scales are square and have a very small and slightly curved spine.

The winged seed is dull purple in color and slightly spotted. The length with the wing is around 25 millimeters, without the wing 6 to 8 millimeters. The wing is firmly fused with the seed. The thousand grain weight is around 27 grams. The foxtail pine germinates above ground ( epigeic ).

Chromosome number

The number of chromosomes is 2n = 24.

Similar species

The Foxtail Pine is similar to two closely related species of pine. From the awns pine ( Pinus aristata ), it differs in the lack of resin flakes on the needles, by the elongated and often slightly curved reddish brown pin with a conically tapered base and the very short and thin spinous process of the cone scales. In addition, the young shoots of the awning pine are bare and not finely hairy, as is the case with the foxtail pine. It differs from the long-lived pine ( Pinus longaeva ) by the yellow male flower cones and the short and thin spinous process of the cone scales.

Distribution and location

Detached tree in the Sierra Nevada

The foxtail pine is native to California in two areas. One is located in northwest California, stretching from the Siskiyou Mountains and Yolla Bolly Mountains in the south to the Klamath Mountains , Scott Mountains, and Marble Mountains in the north. The second sub-area is on the eastern slopes of the southern Sierra Nevada , where it mainly comprises the Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks . There is a single occurrence on the northern slopes of the Siretta Peak . Occurrences have been reported in the Onion Valley above Independence and on the east side of Mount Whitney . In Europe, the foxtail pine has been planted very rarely. Two older specimens are in the Edinburgh Botanical Gardens .

The foxtail pine is a light tree species and inhabits extreme alpine locations. The growing season is usually no more than two months and includes a summer dry period. It tolerates extreme cold, high snow cover, great heat and permanent wind. The natural area is usually very rugged and the water supply is largely via meltwater. Above all exposed and dry rocky slopes, ridges and knolls, mostly without a ground cover, are settled. It occurs at altitudes from 1,500 to over 3,000 meters. It hardly forms closed stands and usually grows individually. At low altitudes it forms mixed stands with the white-stemmed pine ( Pinus albicaulis ), the coastal pine ( Pinus contorta ), the West American juniper ( Juniperus occidentalis ), the Utah juniper ( Juniperus osteosperma ), the magnificent fir ( Abies magnifica ) and the mountain hemlock ( Tsuga mertensiana ).

use

The foxtail pine is hardly used due to its difficult to reach populations.

Diseases and pests

In its natural habitat, the foxtail pine is disease free. Tests in the laboratory have shown that the species is attacked by Cronartium ribicola , the causative agent of the stubble rust, so there is no resistance. Since the rust does not attack the pine, the pathogen is not present in the natural range or cannot damage the species there. The two dwarf mistletoe species Arceuthobium cyanocarpum and Arceuthobium campylopodium occasionally attack the foxtail pine.

The dry and resinous wood of the old trees is easy to ignite. Lightning strikes often occur, but these rarely lead to wildfires, as the trees of this species are usually far apart and there is hardly any flora in the ground.

Systematics

The foxtail pine is assigned to the sub-genus Strobus , the Parrya section and the Balfourianae sub- section within the genus of pines ( Pinus ) . The species was first described in 1853 by John Hutton Balfour in the work of Andrew Murray : Botanical expedition to Oregon , Volume 8, Page 1. A synonym is Pinus balfouriana subsp. austrina R.J. Mastrog. & JDMastrog. The specific epithet honors the British doctor and botanist John Hutton Balfour.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Entry at Conifers.org
  2. ^ Tropicos. [1]
  3. ↑ Rafaël Govaerts (ed.): Pinus. In: World Checklist of Selected Plant Families (WCSP) - The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew . Retrieved April 23, 2019.

Web links

Commons : Foxtail Pine  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files