Pinus brutia var. pityusa

Scientific name: Pinus brutia var. pityusa  (Steven) Silba  1985

Synonyms:Pinus halepensis subsp. pityusa (Steven) A.E.Murray, Pinus istratovae L.V.Orlova, Pinus pityusa Steven, Pinus stankewiczii (Sukaczev) Fomin

Common names:  Pitsundian pine

Description

Tree to 20(-40) m tall, often shrubby on harsh sites. Trunk to 1(-1.2) m in diameter, often dividing near tha base. Bark reddish brown to silver gray and long remaining smooth, finally becoming reddish  brown, thick and deeply ridged and furrowed. Crown broadly conical to dome-shaped, flattening and opening up with age, with numerous upwardly angled to horizontal branches well clothed with foliage. Twigs reddish brown to grayish brown, hairless, smooth. Buds 7-12 mm long, not resinous. Needles in bundles of two (or three), each needle (6-)12-18(-23) cm long, slender and flexible to thick and stiff, lasting 2(-3) years, bright to dark green. Individual needles with inconspicuous, evenly spaced lines of stomates on both the inner and outer faces, and (1-)3-8(-11) large resin canals surrounding the two-stranded midvein but touching the outer surface of the needle. Sheath 9-16 mm long, weathering to 4-9 mm and persisting and falling with the bundle. Pollen cones densely clustered, about 7-10 mm long, yellowish brown with a reddish flush. Seed cones (4.5-)6-10(-12) cm long, conical to egg-shaped, with (60-)70-90 seed scales, green before maturity, ripening shiny reddish brown, opening only slowly when ripe and persisting several years before falling off the inconspicuous to pronounced thick stalk 3-11 mm long. Seed scales paddle-shaped, the exposed face diamond-shaped, crossed by a ridge, fairly flat to evidently bulging, the diamond-shaped umbo often a little indented, without a prickle. Seed body 5-9 mm long, the firmly attached wing another (12-)15-24(-28) mm longer.

Confined to the Caucasus region: Krasnodar, Transcaucasia (Abkhazia); Georgia; Ukraine: Krym (Crimea); 0-1500 m.

Conservation Status

Red List Category & Criteria: Vulnerable

(The extent of occurrence (EOO) of this variety has not been calculated due to a lack of herbarium specimens available for mapping. Although it extends in scattered localities along the coast for several hundred kilometres its area of occupancy (AOO) is small, certainly not above 1,000 km². Continuing decline is inferred mainly from development along the Crimean coast which has removed suitable habitat. The variety therefore qualifies for listing as Vulnerable)

References

Farjon, A. (2010). A Handbook of the World's Conifers. Koninklijke Brill, Leiden.

Eckenwalder, J.E. (2009) Conifers of the World: The Complete Reference. Timber Press, Portland.

IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources. Cambridge, UK /Gland, Switzerland

Copyright © Aljos Farjon, James E. Eckenwalder, IUCN, Conifers Garden. All rights reserved.

Rootstock: Pinus sylvestris