Pinus L.
(pines)

The commonest pines over most of England are Scots Pine (Pinus sylvestris) and Black Pine (P. nigra) in one of its subspecies: Corsican Pine (commoner, eg New Forest plantations) and Austrian Pine (rarer). These all appear quite similar: the trunk of Scots Pine is grey at the base but peels orange high up, whereas Black Pine has a mostly grey trunk. The two spp of Black Pine differ in needle length: Austrian: 8-12cm, Corsican: 10-18cm. (Scots Pine needles are 4-10cm). In Black Pines the trunk is usually unbranched or split into two vertical trunks, whereas Scots Pine generally has major branches or large branch stumps lower down, at least when grown in the open.

Lodgepole Pine (P. contorta) is a common, but frequently overlooked species, especially in shelter belts and plantations where it grows dead straight. It occasionally seeds into heathland where the open-grown trees branch low down. It has short needles (3-7cm) in pairs, small NARROW cones with bobbles on the scales, especially towards the base.

The large-coned pines, Monterey Pine (P. radiata) and Maritime Pine (P. pinaster), are scattered across the south but very common along the south coast, mostly Monterey but the Maritime is the main pine in the Bournemouth area. Both grow into very voluminous trees, tall and spreading. Monterey has reddish bark and usually branches low down; the bark of Maritime Pine tends toward grey and the tree often forms a very regular almost umbel-like canopy. Both these spp have large cones (bigger than your hand), which are long retained along the branches. Monterey has needles in 3’s (look on the ground if you can’t reach foliage) whereas Maritime has needles in pairs. Maritime cones have sharp prickles on the scales – painful to grasp – whereas in Monterey they’re gently rounded.

You may also find the odd specimen tree of Bhutan Pine (P. wallichiana) [huge resin covered cones] or Weymouth Pine (P. strobus). These are both 5-needled, but rarely grown due to their feared susceptibility to Blister Rust.