More Morton Magic #10: Iconiferic
This is the 10th of a 17-cache series which will take you on a wonderful 6km looping trail up the deep Morton valley through Sunnydale and The Glen passing historical farm and residential buildings, industrial ruins, mill ponds and weirs, rich deciduous and pine woodlands, a reservoir, waterfall, low moorland, farm fields and then back down an old track and flower-festooned path into the village.
The cache, a magnetic camo-taped sample tube, is hidden just off the trail beneath one of these tall distinctive evergreens.
Pinus sylvestris, the Scots (Scotch or Baltic) pine an evergreen coniferous tree in the pine family Pinaceae and native to Eurasia. It can easily be identified by its combination of fairly short, blue-green leaves and orange-red bark. It is a conifer -a separate group of plants which don’t ‘flower’ but produce a cone.
It usually grows up to 35m high and 1m trunk diameter when mature but may reach 45m tall and 1.7m trunk diameter on very productive sites. The tallest on record is a tree over 210 years old tree growing in Estonia which stands at 46.6m. It usually lives for 150–300 years, with the oldest recorded specimens in Lapland, Northern Finland over 760 years!
It is the only pine native to northern Europe, ranging from Western Europe to Eastern Siberia, south to the Caucasus Mountains and Anatolia, and north to well inside the Arctic Circle. In the north of its range, it occurs from sea level to 1,000m while in the south it is a mountain tree, growing at 1,200–2,600m altitude.
Its bark is thick, flaky and orange-red when young to scaly and gray-brown when mature, sometimes retaining the former on the upper portion. When the trees are young they have a conical, Christmas-tree shape with branches to ground level. With mature Scots Pines, the lower branches die off leaving its distinctive shape - a long, bare and straight trunk topped by a rounded or flat-topped mass of foliage.
Before the 18th century, the species was more often known as 'Scots or Scotch fir'. Another, less common name is European redwood. Its timber is called red deal or yellow deal, the name 'deal' being adopted from an archaic unit of volume used to measure wood.
It is mainly found on poorer, sandy soils, rocky outcrops, peat bogs or close to the forest limit. On fertile sites, it is out-competed by other tree species, usually spruce or broad-leaved trees. It is known as a 'key species' - which means that, like the oak, it provides a habitat for much other flora and fauna to thrive.
It spread across Britain after the Last Glacial Maximum. Pollen records show that pine was present locally in
southern England by 9,000 years ago having entered from northeast France and that it had spread as far north as the Lake District and North Pennines 500 years later.
In Britain it now occurs naturally only in Scotland. Historical and archaeological records indicate that it also occurred in Wales and England until about 300–400 years ago, becoming extinct there due to over-exploitation and grazing; it has been re-introduced in these countries.
It formed much of the Caledonian Forest, which once covered most the Scottish Highlands. Overcutting for timber demand, fire, overgrazing by sheep and deer, and even deliberate clearance to deter wolves have all been factors in the decline of this once great pine and birch forest. Only comparatively small areas – 17,000 hectares - just >1% of the estimated original 1,500,000 ha of this ancient forest remain, the main surviving remnants being at Abernethy Forest, Glen Affric, Rothiemurchus Forest, and the Black Wood of Rannoch. See here for a fascinating video on restoring the forest.
Uses: it is an important tree in forestry. The wood is used for pulp and sawn timber products. A seedling stand can be created by planting, sowing, or natural regeneration. Commercial plantation rotations vary between 50-120 years.
After Sitka Spruce, it is the 2nd most abundant conifer growing in the UK, and the only native species grown for timber. Scots pine is expected to reach 10% of Britain’s softwood supply over the next 50 years. Peak production will be around 2036 thanks to the extensive planting that took place in the 1950s and 1960s.
In Scandinavian countries, pine was used for making tar in the preindustrial age. Some active tar producers still exist, but that industry has almost ceased. The pine has also been used as a source of rosin and turpentine.
Its wood is pale brown to red-brown and used for general construction work and for fences. It is also popular for making furniture and can be used for bespoke joinery. Pine fibres are used to make the textile known as vegetable flannel, which has a hemp-like appearance, but with a tighter, softer texture.
It was grown and used extensively in the coal mining regions of Flanders, Belgium for use in fortifying tunnels being preferred for its cracking sound when in need of replacement. Large patches of forest, mostly containing the species, are still scattered over the countryside.
Several cultivars are grown for ornamental purposes in parks and large gardens.
The tallest Scots Pine in the UK is the 140 years old 40m specimen at Craigieburn (or Cragside), nr Rothbury in
Northumberland (see here for report and video). Although this is pretty tall it is still dwarfed by other trees such as the Douglas Fir which can reach over 60m tall!
The Scots pine is the plant badge of Clan Gregor and since 2014 the national tree of Scotland. See here for more info on this impressive tree.
See excellent short videos here (beautifully shot Scotland's National Tree), here (Ireland's Native Trees)