10 Graines Pin d'Alep, Pinus halepensis

Aleppo pine, white pine of Provence, Pinus Halepensis |

The white pine of Provence or Aleppo pine (Pinus Halepensis) is a conifer in the family of the Pinaceae. It was the Scottish botanist Philip Miller who gave him this scientific name, in 1768. Indeed, it was Pinus Brutia which grows mainly in the Aleppo region. Its geographical distribution is mainly around the Mediterranean coast, and more particularly in North Africa and Spain. It is sometimes called Jerusalem pine.

10 Seeds - Average germination: 70 %

Tree of about 10-25 m, often leaning and little straight, the summit is quite crushed, irregular and clear, the branches are quite spread. He fluently lives 150 to 200 years in a majority of his area, and up to 250 years in the Maghreb.

The branches are light green then light gray, quite fine, often making several shoots the same year on vigorous branches (Polycyclism).

The non -resinous buds are ovoid, high, brown, with free scales fringed with white.

The bark is first smooth and silver gray, then cracked, scaly, brownish gray.

The leaves are needles by two, fine, acute flexible, 6 to 10 cm, grayish green, applied along the shoots the first year and then spreading. They are grouped in brushes at the end of the weak branches, the base of which is occupied by the male flowers in the spring, but are arranged throughout the rod on the strong branches. They persist 2 to 4 years, especially since the branches grow quickly.

The male cones are yellow tinged with red full of pollen, oblong, not very tight ; The female flowers are pink-violace pedunculated.

The female cones are 6 to 12 cm large, with peduncles thick from 1 to 2 cm, often isolated but which can be grouped by 2 to 4. Their development is done over 3 years: after flowering, they first green and then become gray-brown in 2 months, and stop their growth for the first time at the start of summer, at a size of 10 to 15 mm. In the spring of 2^e Year, they resume their growth by becoming green and reach their final size at the beginning of summer. During the 3^E Spring, they no longer grow but ripen by yellowing and then become light brown, shiny. The seeds are ready to germinate from June. The cones will then follow two ways : either open during the summer with drought, or stay closed for years to keep seeds sheltered from the lights. The latter, known as " serotineous ", have the scales stuck by an abundant resin. This is destroyed during fires, which allow the release of the seeds in a favorable environment where young pines will have little competition. Open or closed, the cones can remain several tens of years hanging on the branches. However, squirrels attack the cones to feed on the seeds by often tearing all the scales and dropping the cones. Light gray-black seeds (weight of 1000 seeds = 15 to 20 grams), 4 to 7 mm long, with a wing of 15 to 25 mm facilitating its dissemination1.

Contents subject to the CC-BY-SA 3.0 license. Source : Article Pinus Halepensis from Wikipedia in French (Authors)