Italian Stone Pine

Pinus pinea

COMMON NAMES: Italian stone pine, stone pine, Mediterranean stone pine, umbrella pine and parasol pine.

BOTANICAL NAME: Pinus pinea

PRONUNCIATION: PIE-nus pie-NE-ah

FAMILY: Pineaceae (Pine Family)

TYPE: Evergreen tree

HEIGHT: 40 - 65 feet

  Mature Italian stone pine (left) and living Christmas tree immature 
  needles

NATURAL HABITAT AND PREFERRED SITE: Zones 7a - 11 (USDA) is the official recommended range but this tree can suffer freeze damage in Zone 8 during extremely harsh weather. Native to the Mediterranean region, occurring in Southern Europe, North Africa, the Canary Islands, South Africa and Australia's New South Wales.

Description: Rounded shape when young. Mature trees have broad, smoothly rounded to nearly flat tops. This coniferous evergreen tree can exceed 80 feet in height, but 40 - 65 ft is more typical. As the tree matures to mid-age it takes the shape of an umbrella canopy on a thick trunk, and in maturity it supports broad, flat crown over 25 ft in width. The mature red-brown bark is thick and deeply fissured into broad vertical plates.

  Mature Italian stone pine (left), cone photo by S. Rae, Scotland, UK via Wikimedia

The flexible medium-green leaves are needle-like, in bundles of two, and are 4 - 8 inches long. Young trees, up to about 5 - 10 years old, have different leaves, which are single (not paired), 3⁄4 - 1 1⁄2 in. long, glaucous blue-green. Adult leaves appear mixed with juvenile leaves from the fourth or fifth year on, replacing them fully by around the tenth year. Juvenile leaves are also produced in regrowth following injury or pruning.

Stone pines take more than 10 years to start forming cones that are broad, ovoid, 3 - 6 in long, and take 36 months to mature, longer than any other pine. The seeds, called variously pine nuts, piñones, pinhões, pinoli, or pignons, are large: 3⁄4 in long, and pale brown with a powdery black coating that rubs off easily and have rudimentary 5⁄32 - 5⁄16 in wings that falls off very easily. The wing is ineffective for wind dispersal, seeds are animal-dispersed such as birds, but now also by humans.

  The largest Italian stone pine in Dallas

Uses: Widely used as a living Christmas tree that can be planted outdoors after the holidays. It has been used for its edible pine nuts since prehistoric times. Currently, it is a widespread horticultural tree, in addition to cultivation for the seeds it is used for resins and tannins. This is one of the pine trees that seems to be able to grow and do well in a variety of soils, even dry alkaline soils.

Problems: Freeze damage during harsh winters. Usually cosmetic but can be serious.

More information and photos at Wikipedia.

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