A growing female cone of a Scots pine on a mountain in Perry County, Pennsylvania
A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus Pinus (/ˈpiːnuːs/)[1] of the famili Pinaceae. Pinus is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. The World Flora Online created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanical Garden accepts 187 species names of pines as current, together with more synonyms.[2] The American Conifer Society (ACS) and the Royal Horticultural Society accept 121 species. Pines are commonly found in the Northern Hemisphere. Pine may also refer to the lumber derived from pine trees; it is one of the more extensively used tipes of lumber. The pine famili is the largest conifer famili and there are currently 818 named cultivars (or trinomials) recognized by the ACS.
Pine trees are evergreen, coniferous resinous trees (or, rarely, shrubs) growing 3-80 metres (10-260 feet) tall, with the majority of species reaching 15-45 m (50-150 ft) tall.[4] The smallest are Siberian dwarf pine and Potosi pinyon, and the tallest is an 81.8 m (268 ft) tall ponderosa pine located in southern Oregon's Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest.[4]
Pines are long lived and typically reach ages of 100-1,000 years, some even more. The longest-lived is the Great Basin bristlecone pine (P. longaeva). One individu of this species, dubbed "Methuselah", is one of the world's oldest living organisms at around 4,800 years old. This tree can be found in the White Mountains of California.[5] An older tree, now cut down, was dated at 4,900 years old.[6][7] It was discovered in a grove beneath Wheeler Peak and it is now known as "Prometheus" after the Greek immortal.[7]
The spiral growth of branches, needles, and cones scales may be arranged in Fibonacci number ratios.[8][9] The new spring shoots are sometimes called "candles"; they are covered in brown or whitish bud scales and poin upward at first, then later turn green and spread outward. These "candles" offer foresters a means to evaluate fertility of the soil and vigour of the trees.
