Red Pine
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Red Pine | |
|---|---|
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| Trees at Sherburne NWR, Minnesota | |
| Conservation status | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Division: | Pinophyta |
| Class: | Pinopsida |
| Order: | Pinales |
| Family: | Pinaceae |
| Genus: | Pinus |
| Subgenus: | Pinus |
| Species: | P. resinosa |
| Binomial name | |
| Pinus resinosa Sol. ex Aiton |
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The Red Pine (Pinus resinosa), the state tree of Minnesota, is a pine native to northeastern North America. The Red Pine occurs from Newfoundland west to southeast Manitoba, and south to northern Illinois and Pennsylvania, with a small outlying population in the Appalachian Mountains in West Virginia. In the Upper Midwest of the United States it is sometimes known by the confusing name Norway Pine[1] even though it is not native to Norway.
Red Pine is an evergreen tree characterized by tall, straight growth in a variety of habitats. It usually ranges from 20-35 m in height and 1 m in trunk diameter, but can exceed that in optimal conditions, exceptionally reaching 43 m tall (Gymnosperm Database). The crown is conical in young trees, becoming a narrow rounded dome with age. The bark is thick and gray-brown at the base of the tree, but thin, flaky and bright orange-red in the upper crown; the tree's name derives from this distinctive character. Some red color may be seen in the fissures of the bark. Red Pine is self pruning; there tend not to be dead branches on the trees, and older trees may have very long lengths of branchless trunk below the canopy.
The leaves are needle-like, dark green, in fascicles of two, 12-18 cm long, and brittle. The leaves snap cleanly when bent; this character, stated as diagnostic for Red Pine in some texts, is however shared by several other pine species. The cones are symmetrical ovoid, 4-6 cm long, 2.5 cm broad and green before maturity, ripening nut-brown and opening to 4-5 cm broad, the scales without a prickle and almost stalkless.
The species is notable for its very constant morphology and low genetic variation throughout its range, suggesting it has been through a population bottleneck in its recent evolutionary history[2][3]
This species is intolerant of shade, but does well in windy sites; it grows best in well-drained soil. The wood is commercially valuable in forestry for timber and paper pulp, and the tree is also used for landscaping.
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[edit] References
- ^ a b Moore, Gerry; Kershner, Bruce; Tufts, Craig; Mathews, Daniel; Nelson, Gil; Spellenberg, Richard; Thieret, John W. (May 9, 2008). National Wildlife Federation Field Guide to Trees of North America. New York: Sterling Publishing. p. 66. ISBN 978-1402738753.
- ^ a b Fowler, D. P.; Morris, R. W. (1977). "Genetic diversity in Red Pine: evidence for low genic heterozygosity". Canadian Journal of Forest Research 7 (2): 343-347. doi:.
- ^ a b Simon, Jean-Pierre; Bergeron, Yves; Gagnon, Daniel (1986). "Isozyme uniformity in populations of Red Pine (Pinus resinosa) in the Abitibi Region, Quebec.". Canadian Journal of Forest Research 16: 1133-1135. doi:.
- Conifer Specialist Group (1998). Pinus resinosa. 2006. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. www.iucnredlist.org. Retrieved on 12 May 2006.
