Portamento
Alto fino a 40 metri, foglie aghiformi.
Corteccia
Alla base degli alberi adulti è bruna-rossastra e si stacca a placche. Nelle parti più giovani dei rami e del tronco il colore tende al rosso-marrone. A maturità è grigia.
Foglie
Aghiformi, sempreverdi, raggruppati in mazzetti di due aghi (raramente tre o quattro), lunghe circa 3-5 cm (talvolta fino a 10 cm), di colore verde glauco, ritorti e con guaine brunastre alla base.
Coni
È una specie dioica con sporofilli maschili (microsporofilli) che formano piccoli coni sessili, penduli, di colore giallo, alla base dei getti dell'anno e sporofilli femminili (macrosporofilli) che formano coni rossastri, globosi e generalmente isolati, eretti all'impollinazione in seguito pendenti e trasformantisi in strobili (pigne) ovali, lunghi circa 3-7 cm, con cortissimo picciolo. Inizialmente verdi, poi grigio-marroncine scure e si trovano in coppie o in gruppi sugli steli ricurvi. Le pigne maturano e liberano i semi in tre anni.
Il pino ha un sistema di radici a fittone con radici laterali che si approfondano e si allontanano orizzontalmente con cui può penetrare in profondità anche in strati acquiferi.
[ENGLISH]
Scots pine
Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) is a species of pine native to Europe and Asia, ranging from Scotland, Ireland and Portugal in the west, east to eastern Siberia, south to the Caucasus Mountains, and north to well inside the Arctic Circle in Scandinavia. In the north of its range, it occurs from sea level to 1,000 m, while in the south of its range it is a high altitude mountain tree, growing at 1,200–2,600 m altitude. It is readily identified by its combination of fairly short, blue-green leaves and orange-red bark.
Botany
Pinus sylvestris is an evergreen coniferous tree growing up to 35 m in height and 1 m trunk diameter when mature, exceptionally to 45 m tall and 1.7 m trunk diameter and on very productive sites (in Estonia, there are some 220-year-old trees that are 46 metres tall in the forests of Järvselja). The bark is thick, scaly dark grey-brown on the lower trunk, and thin, flaky and orange on the upper trunk and branches. The habit of the mature tree is distinctive due to its long, bare and straight trunk topped by a rounded or flat-topped mass of foliage. The lifespan is normally 150–300 years, with the oldest recorded specimens (in Sweden and Norway) just over 700 years.
The shoots are light brown, with a spirally arranged scale-like pattern. On mature trees the leaves ('needles') are a glaucous blue-green, often darker green to dark yellow-green in winter, 2.5–5 cm long and 1–2 mm broad, produced in fascicles of two with a persistent grey 5–10 mm basal sheath; on vigorous young trees the leaves can be twice as long, and occasionally occur in fascicles of three or four on the tips of strong shoots. Leaf persistence varies from two to four years in warmer climates, and up to nine years in subarctic regions. Seedlings up to one year old bear juvenile leaves; these are single (not in pairs), 2–3 cm long, flattened, with a serrated margin.
Mature open cones and seeds
The seed cones are red at pollination, then pale brown, globose and 4–8 mm diameter in their first year, expanding to full size in their second year, pointed ovoid-conic, green, then grey-green to yellow-brown at maturity, 3-7.5 cm in length. The cone scales have a flat to pyramidal apophysis, with a small prickle on the umbo. The seeds are blackish, 3–5 mm long with a pale brown 12–20 mm wing; they are released when the cones open in spring 22–24 months after pollination. The pollen cones are yellow, occasionally pink, 8–12 mm long; pollen release is in mid to late spring.
Taxonomy
Over 100 Pinus sylvestris varieties have been described in the botanical literature, but only three or four are now accepted; they differ only minimally in morphology, but with more pronounced differences in genetic analysis and resin composition. Populations in westernmost Scotland are genetically distinct from those in the rest of Scotland and northern Europe, but not sufficiently to have been distinguished as a separate botanical variety. Trees in the far north of the range were formerly sometimes treated as var. lapponica, but the differences are clinal and it is not genetically distinct.
- Pinus sylvestris var. sylvestris. The bulk of the range, from Scotland and Spain to central Siberia. Described above.
- Pinus sylvestris var. hamata Steven. The Balkans, northern Turkey, Crimea, and the Caucasus. Foliage more consistently glaucous all year, not becoming duller in winter; cones more frequently with a pyramidal apophysis.
- Pinus sylvestris var. mongolica Litv. Mongolia and adjoining parts of southern Siberia and northwestern China. Foliage duller green, shoots grey-green; leaves occasionally up to 12 cm long.
- Pinus sylvestris var. nevadensis D.H.Christ. The Sierra Nevada in southern Spain and possibly other Spanish populations (not considered distinct from var.sylvestris by all authors) Kalenicz. Ex Kom. Cones often with thicker scales, but doubtfully distinguishable on morphology.
- Pinus sylvestris var. cretacea Kalenicz. ex Kom. From border regions between Russia and Ukraine