Pinus merkusii
| Pinus merkusii | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Pinus merkusii |
||||||||||||
| Systematics | ||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Pinus merkusii | ||||||||||||
| Jungh. & de Vriese |
Pinus merkusii or Merkus Kiefer is an evergreen conifer from the genus of pines ( Pinus ) with 15 to 20 centimeters long needles and usually 6 to 10 centimeters long seed cones. Its natural range is in Sumatra and the Philippines , but the species is used economically throughout Indonesia. Turpentine is producedon a large scalefrom the resin .
description
Habitus
Pinus merkusii grows as an evergreen tree , up to 45 and perhaps even 70 meters high, with an upright, straight trunk and trunk diameters of up to 200 centimeters. The trunk bark is reddish brown or dark brown, either thin and more or less smooth or thick, scaly and rough and breaks into many small, dark gray plates. The branches are horizontal or upright and form an open, broadly conical or irregular crown. The needled branches are strong, hairless, brown or dark brown.
Buds and needles
The buds are cylindrical and not resinous, terminal buds reach a length of 1.5 to 2 centimeters. The bud scales are brown. The needles grow in pairs in a permanent, 12 to 18 millimeter long, reddish-brown, basal needle sheath. The needles are dull green, long and very thin, straight or slightly curved, flexible, 15 to 20 centimeters long and about 1 millimeter thick. The edge of the needle is finely sawn, the end of the needle pointed. There are fine stomata lines on all needle sides . The needles fall off after two years.
Cones and seeds
The pollen cones grow upright and spirally arranged in groups. They are cylindrical, 1.5 to 2.5 centimeters long with a diameter of 5 millimeters. The seed cones usually grow individually, rarely in pairs, on young shoots. They have a sturdy stem and are almost at right angles from the branches. They are closed oblong-conical, sometimes only 5, usually 6 to 10 and rarely up to 11 inches long and 4 to 8 inches wide. When opened, they are broadly ovoid. The seed scales are light reddish brown, thin, stiff, elongated and in the center of the cone about 3 millimeters long and 1.2 to 1.5 millimeters wide. The apophysis is glossy reddish brown to dark brown, raised, with a rhombic or irregular pentagonal outline, clearly transversely keeled and radially striped or grooved. The umbo is flat or slightly recessed, blunt and unreinforced towards the end. The seeds are obovate, 5 to 7 millimeters long, about 4.5 millimeters wide, slightly pressed and gray-brown. The seed wing is narrow, 20 to 25 millimeters long and persistent. The cones ripen in the second year.
Distribution, ecology and endangerment
The natural range of Pinus merkusii is in Malesia in the north and in the middle of Sumatra and on the Philippine islands Luzon and Mindoro . According to other sources, areas in Southeast Asia also belong to the natural range of the species, but the trees in these areas are assigned to the vicariate species Pinus latteri . Sumatra has the most extensive stocks around Lake Toba and along the Barisan Mountains , which extend over 2 ° southern latitude to the south. This means that Pinus merkusii has the southernmost distribution area of all pines and is the only pine species that also occurs south of the equator. Pinus merkusii grows in mountainous areas and forms open pine forests or fire-shaped pine savannas. These ecosystems are heavily influenced by humans or possibly only arose as a result of their influence. The species forms a “grass stage” as an adaptation to the frequent fires. The distribution area is assigned to winter hardiness zone 10 with mean annual minimum temperatures of −1.1 to +4.4 ° C (30 to 40 ° F).
In the Red List of the IUCN is Pinus merkusii as endangered ( "Vulnerable") out. The main cause is the heavy use, which has led to a very sharp decline in stocks in the Philippines. The wood is still used in Sumatra, but the situation is better there. However, it should be noted that a reassessment is pending.
Systematics and research history
Pinus merkusii is a species from the genus of the pines ( Pinus ), in which it is assigned to the subgenus Pinus , section Pinus and subsection Pinus . It was first described scientifically in 1845 by Franz Wilhelm Junghuhn and Willem Hendrik de Vriese . The generic name Pinus was already used by the Romans for several types of pine. The specific epithet merkusii is reminiscent of Lieutenant Hendrik Merkus de Kock , who was Governor General of the Dutch East Indies from 1826 to 1830 . Pinus merkusii is very similar to the vicariant species Pinus latteri native to Southeast Asia . The grass stage of the seedlings was seen as an important distinguishing feature between the two species as an adaptation to frequent steppe fires. Since this stage has now been observed in both species, it is questionable whether the differences in morphology , which are only of quantitative character, justify the species status. If not, Pinus latteri should be used as a variety Pinus merkusii var. Latteri (Mason) Silba or as a subspecies Pinus merkusii subsp. latteri (Mason) DZLi can be understood by Pinus merkusii .
Synonyms of the species are Pinus finlaysoniana Wall. ex flower and Pinus sumatrana Mirb.
use
Pinus merkusii was already planted extensively by the Dutch during the colonial period outside its natural range throughout Indonesia, which was later continued by the Indonesians. The species is the most important supplier of pine resin there , making Indonesia one of the main producers of turpentine worldwide , which is obtained from the resin by distillation . In the Philippines, resin is extracted from both Pinus merkusii and Pinus kesiya . 3 to 4 kilograms can be gained per tree and year. Younger trees provide more resin than older ones, the wood of which is then processed into pulp for paper production. High quality wood is also used as construction lumber and to make panels and furniture. The species is not used as an ornamental tree , but is found in botanical gardens in Indonesia and the Philippines.
swell
literature
- Aljos Farjon: A Handbook of the World's Conifers . tape 2 . Brill, Leiden-Boston 2010, ISBN 90-04-17718-3 , pp. 699, 710, 711 .
- Helmut Genaust: Etymological dictionary of botanical plant names. 3rd, completely revised and expanded edition. Nikol, Hamburg 2005, ISBN 3-937872-16-7 , p. 487 (reprint from 1996).
Individual evidence
- ↑ German name after Robert Zander : Zander. Concise dictionary of plant names. Edited by Walter Erhardt , Erich Götz, Nils Bödeker, Siegmund Seybold . 17th edition. Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart 2002, ISBN 3-8001-3573-6 , quoted from Pinus merkusii. In: Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). United States Department of Agriculture, accessed March 12, 2013 .
- ↑ a b c Aljos Farjon: A Handbook of the World's Conifers , Volume 2, p. 710
- ^ Aljos Farjon: A Handbook of the World's Conifers , Volume 2, pp. 710-711
- ↑ a b c d Christopher J. Earle: Pinus merkusii. In: The Gymnosperm Database. www.conifers.org, November 23, 2012, accessed March 9, 2013 .
- ↑ a b Pinus merkusii in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2012. Posted by: Conifer Specialist Group, 2000. Accessed March 12, 2013.
- ↑ a b c d Aljos Farjon: A Handbook of the World's Conifers , Volume 2, p. 711
- ↑ a b Pinus merkusii. In: Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). United States Department of Agriculture, accessed March 12, 2013 .
- ↑ To be precise: Etymological dictionary of botanical plant names. P. 487
- ^ Aljos Farjon: A Handbook of the World's Conifers , Volume 2, p. 699
- ↑ Pinus merkusii. In: The Plant List. Retrieved March 16, 2013 .
