White-stemmed pine
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White-stemmed pine ( Pinus albicaulis ) |
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| Engelm. |
The Pinus albicaulis ( Pinus albicaulis ) is a plant from the genus of pine trees ( Pinus ) within the family of the Pinaceae (Pinaceae). Their natural range is in the west of North America. The stocks have declined sharply since around 1910. The reasons for this are the straw rust imported from Europe and the increased occurrence of the mountain pine beetle due to the higher temperatures in this century. It is therefore classified as "highly endangered" by the IUCN 2011.
description
Vegetative characteristics
The white-stemmed pine grows as a tree that reaches heights of 10, rarely up to 20 meters, and diameters of up to 150 centimeters at chest height . The treetop is initially narrowly conical and later becomes rounded to irregular. The young bark is whitish and smooth and later tears open in thin sheets. The branches are protruding, young shoots are red-yellow, orange or brown. The buds are red-brown, broadly ovoid and pointed and have loosely attached, long, pointed scales.
The needles are in groups of five. The needles are 4 to 7 inches long, stiff, with entire margins, short, pointed and dark green. The outer side shows two deepened, the inner side three to five stomata lines . The needles stay on the tree for six to eight years, the needle sheaths are no longer necessary.
Generative characteristics
The pollen cones are cylindrical to oval and red with a length of 10 to 15 millimeters. With a length of 5 to 7 centimeters and a diameter of 4 to 6 centimeters, the female cones are ovate to ovoid-rounded and almost sessile. They are dark purple when young and turn brown when mature. They do not open and disintegrate on the tree when they are ripe. This feature allows a reliable differentiation from the closely related and in the same area occurring flexible pine ( Pinus flexilis ). The scales are thick and the scale shield shows a sharp, pointed umbilicus. The seeds are 8 to 12 millimeters thick, are edible and have no wings.
The number of chromosomes is 2n = 24.
ecology
The seeds of the white-stemmed pine are the main source of food for the pine jay ( Nucifraga columbiana ) for at least nine months of the year; with these seeds he also raises his young. Since the cones do not open by themselves, the white-stemmed pine is to a large extent dependent on the spread of the seeds by the pine jay and other corvids . A pine jay can carry up to 150 seeds and hide them individually or in groups at a depth of about 2 to 3 centimeters in the ground. Since not all seeds can be found, they are an ideal contribution to the spread of the seeds.
The seeds are also an important source of food for mammals. The golden-coated ground squirrel ( Spermophilus lateralis ) and white-footed mice ( Peromyscus ) eat the seeds individually, but also store them. Red squirrels ( Tamiasciurus hudsonicus ) create larger beds of up to over 150 seeds. These camps are looted by brown and black bears . In Yellowstone National Park , ungulates and the seeds of the white-stemmed pine are the two main sources of food for the grizzly bears that live there .
Distribution, locations and endangerment
The natural range of the white-stemmed pine lies in the Rocky Mountains in the Canadian provinces of British Columbia and Alberta and in the US states of Idaho , Montana and Wyoming , in the Cascade Range and the Sierra Nevada in Washington and California . There it grows in mountain forests and alpine areas at altitudes of 1,300 to 3,700 meters.It thrives on fresh to moist, acidic to neutral, sandy, humus-rich to sandy-gravelly or rocky, shallow soils in sunny to shady, cool summer and cold locations.
In the IUCN Red List of the IUCN in 2011 Pinus albicaulis classified as "critically endangered" (= "Endangered"). The stocks have declined by about 30% over the past 90 years. The main cause is the straw rust imported from Europe , which has spread throughout the entire distribution area. Another cause is the strong occurrence of the mountain pine beetle in the area of distribution, which was probably favored by the higher temperatures of recent years.
Systematics
The first description of Pinus albicaulis was in 1863 by Georg Engelmann in the Transactions of the Academy of Science of St. Louis , Volume 2, page 209. The specific epithet albicaulis is derived from the Latin word “albus” for “white” and “caulis” for “stem “Derived and refers like the German common name to the white trunks of this species.
The species Pinus albicaulis belongs to the sub-section Strobus from the section Quinquefoliae in the sub-genus Strobus within the genus Pinus .
use
The seeds of the white-stemmed pine were eaten both raw and roasted by the Nlaka'pamux . To do this, they collected the cones and dried them to open the cone scales. To make the seeds durable over the winter, they were also boiled, ground and mixed with dried berries.
proof
literature
- Andreas Roloff , Andreas Bärtels: Flora of the woods. Purpose, properties and use. With a winter key from Bernd Schulz. 3rd, corrected edition. Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart (Hohenheim) 2008, ISBN 978-3-8001-5614-6 , p. 760.
- Schütt, Schuck, Stimm: Lexicon of tree and shrub species . Nikol, Hamburg 2002, ISBN 3-933203-53-8 , pp. 356-357 .
- Russell H. Burns: Silvics of North America . Conifers. In: Agriculture Handbook . tape 654 . United States Government Printing, Oxford 1991, ISBN 0-16-027145-2 ( online ).
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d Roloff et al .: Flora der Gehölze , p. 760
- ↑ a b c d Robert Kral: Pinus. : Pinus albicaulis - the same text online as the printed work , In: Flora of North America Editorial Committee (Ed.): Flora of North America North of Mexico. Volume 2: Pteridophytes and Gymnosperms. Oxford University Press, New York and Oxford, 1993, ISBN 0-19-508242-7 .
- ↑ a b Schütt, Schuck, Stimm: Lexicon of tree and shrub species . Nikol, Hamburg 2002, ISBN 3-933203-53-8 , pp. 356-357 .
- ↑ Christopher J. Earle: Pinus albicaulis. In: The Gymnosperm Database. Retrieved April 29, 2019 .
- ^ A b Burns: Silvics of North America Conifers
- ↑ a b Pinus albicaulis in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2019.1. Listed by: M. Mahalovich, L. Stritch ,, 2011. Retrieved April 29, 2019.
- ↑ Elbert L. Little Jr .: Pinus albicaulis. (PDF; 710 kB) In: Atlas of United States Trees. Retrieved May 30, 2011 .
- ↑ Pinus albicaulis in the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN), USDA , ARS , National Genetic Resources Program. National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland. Retrieved May 29, 2011.
- ↑ Helmut Genaust: Etymological dictionary of botanical plant names. 3rd, completely revised and expanded edition. Nikol, Hamburg 2005, ISBN 3-937872-16-7 , p. 48 (reprint from 1996).
- ↑ Whitebark pine. Learning to Recognize Trees of British Columbia. In: Tree Book. Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations, British Columbia, accessed June 3, 2011 .
Web links
- Janet L. Fryer: Pinus albicaulis. In: Fire Effects Information System. US Forest Service, 2002, accessed May 30, 2011 .