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Scientific name: Pinus pumila (P. Pallas) E. Regel 1859
Synonyms: Pinus cembra subsp. pumila (Parl.) Endl., Pinus cembra var. pumila Parl., Pinus cembra var. pygmaea Loudon, Pinus nana Lemée & H.Lév., Pinus pumila f. auriamentata Y.N.Lee ex. Regel, Pinus pumila var. mongolica Nakai
Common names: Dwarf Siberian pine, Dwarf Stone pine, Japanese stone pine, Siberian dwarf pine (English), Nun-jas-na-mu (Korean)
Shrub to 2(-6) m tall, but spreading to 10 m, with creeping or upright trunks to 15 cm in diameter and covered with flaky, grayish or blackish brown bark. Crown round or flattened, with numerous stiffly upright branches bearing foliage toward the ends. Twigs brown and densely hairy at first, later reddening and them graying. Buds about 10 mm long, heavily resinous. Needles in bundles of five, each needle 3-7(-10) cm long, stiff, usually lasting 2-4 years, dark green and without stomates on the outer face, whitish green with wax on the inner faces. Individual needles with lines of stomates on the inner faces, an undivided midvein, and (one or) two small resin canals touching the epidermis of the outer face near the corners. Sheath 10-15 mm long, soon shed. Pollen cones 8-10 mm long, dark red. Seed cones 3-4.5(-5) cm long, egg-shaped, with about 30 seed scales, violet and then green before maturity, ripening light brown, remaining closed or gaping slightly and falling the next year, short-stalked. Seed scales fan-shaped, somewhat fleshy where the seeds are borne, the thin, woody tip short, sometimes curled a little back, and ending in a small, triangular umbo. Seed body 6-10 mm long, plumply egg-shaped, unwinged.
Along with the unrelated European mugo pine (Pinus mugo) and Mexican border pine (Pinus culminicola), this is one of the few truly shrubby pines (hence the scientific name, “dwarf” in Latin).
Northeastern Asia, primarily throughout Russia east of the Lena River, and then scattered southward in high mountains in northern Mongolia, northeastern China, Korea, and northern and central Japan. Forming dense alpine and subalpine thickets or as an understory in open subalpine forests; (0-)500-2,500(-3,200) m.
Red List Category & Criteria: Least Concern
Pinus pumila has one of the most extensive ranges of all species, and has a habit (shrubby) and ecology that make it highly unlikely to go extinct in the foreseeable future. It is therefore assessed as Least Concern.
This is a pine well adapted to the extreme climate which prevails above the line of forests of Pinus sylvestris in the southern part of its range, while it replaces Larix gmelinii or birch forests at high altitude in the northern regions. It can be found scattered in the understorey of these forests, too. Especially on exposed mountain slopes close to the summer snowline it forms extensive, dense thickets. In Japan the Dwarf Siberian pine occurs from 1,400 m to 3,200 m a.s.l., but on the Kamchatka Peninsula it is found from sea level up to 1,200 m in favourable localities. Its seeds are distributed by birds in the family Corvidae.
Dwarf Siberian pine is of little economic value. Its wood is of small, contorted size and shape and only good for firewood in a region where there is plenty of this commodity of better quality. The seeds are edible, but difficult to harvest and mostly left to birds, rodents and bears. In horticulture it is rarely met with and mostly confined to botanic gardens and arboreta, although in Russia and northern Japan it is also planted in some parks, road reservations and other amenity spaces. It should be a good species for rock gardens in countries with cold winters.
This species is known from many protected areas throughout its extensive range; it also occurs in many remote, undisturbed areas.
Pinus pumila ’Barmstedt’ Pinus pumila ’Blaukissen’ Pinus pumila ’Blauspinne’ Pinus pumila ’Blue Dwarf’ Pinus pumila ’Blue Mops’ Pinus pumila ’Blue Note’ Pinus pumila ’Blue Star’ Pinus pumila ’Brevifolia’ Pinus pumila ’Buchanan’ Pinus pumila ’Chlorocarpa’ Pinus pumila ’Chlorocarpa’ Pinus pumila ’Compacta’ Pinus pumila ’Dolina’ Pinus pumila ’Dolina Smith’ Pinus pumila ’Draht H.J.’ Pinus pumila ’Draijer’s Blue’ Pinus pumila ’Draijer’s Dwarf’ Pinus pumila ’Dwarf' Pinus pumila ’Eschrich’ Pinus pumila ’Forster’ Pinus pumila ’Glauca’ Pinus pumila ’Globe’ Pinus pumila ’Globus’ Pinus pumila ’Hann Münden’ Pinus pumila ’Hillside’ Pinus pumila ’Hooftman’ Pinus pumila ’Horstmann’ Pinus pumila ’Jaermyns’ Pinus pumila ’Jankus’ Pinus pumila ’Jeddeloh’ Pinus pumila ’Klosterkoter’ Pinus pumila ’Knightshayes’ Pinus pumila ’M-CEM 2’ Pinus pumila ’Nana’ Pinus pumila ’National Arboretum’ Pinus pumila ’NA 43537’ Pinus pumila ’No. 20397’ Pinus pumila ’No. 20796’ Pinus pumila ’Oliver’ Pinus pumila ’Oosthoek’ Pinus pumila ’Park’ Pinus pumila ’Pinocchio’ Pinus pumila ’Pipistrella’ Pinus pumila ’Prostrata’ Pinus pumila ’Pygmaea’ Pinus pumila ’Rogów’ Pinus pumila ’Säntis’ Pinus pumila ’Saphir’ Pinus pumila ’Sibirica’ Pinus pumila ’Springarn’ Pinus pumila ’Stata’ Pinus pumila ’Stockmann’ Pinus pumila ’Timm’ Pinus pumila ’Wansdyke’ Pinus pumila ’WB’ Pinus pumila ’Winton’ Pinus pumila ’Zwergform’ Pinus pumila ’Yes-alpina’
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