Pinus peuce

Ponderosa Pine ( Pinus peuce )

Called The Ponderosa Pine ( Pinus peuce ), also " Kiefer Macedonia ", " Macedonian pine " or " pine Balkans ", is a flowering plant in the genus pines ( Pinus ). It is an endemic conifer in the mountains of the southern Balkan peninsula with the natural circulation in the Prokletija and parts of Macedonia, Bulgaria and Greece. In German, the Ponderosa pine is named after the geographical name Rumelia, which the European part of the Ottoman Empire was called.

General

In its natural range the Ponderosa pine grows in loose pure stands or associated in the upper montane and subalpine vegetation zone at altitudes 800-2200 m and comes up to the upper timberline before. She is a full sunlight and preferably moderately nutrient rich and medium to deep silicate or Serpentinböden, but also thrives on calciumcarbonatreichem underground.

On the Balkan Peninsula, the Ponderosa pine is now a major forest tree and is also grown in the lowlands. In the forests of central Europe and their diffusion is insignificant as an economic tree species, but it is frequently cultivated in Scandinavia.

Compared to the blister rust fungus Cronartium ribicola, which can cause a cow blister rust disease ( Strobenrost ) at five noble pine species, the Ponderosa pine is only slightly susceptible.

Description

Habit

The Ponderosa pine rarely achieved in higher Bergslagen tree heights over 15 m. In the lower areas, it can be up to 30 m high. It is fast growing and has, similar to the stone pine, a cone-shaped growth habit on. In the free state, the Ponderosa pine is beastet to the ground. The branches are short, fat and bald, young shoots are greenish, glabrous and shiny.

Needles

The gray-green needles of the pine Rumelian sit fifth on a short shoot. They are about 7 to 10 cm long and stiff. The needles are not upside down, causing the Ponderosa Pine differs from the closely related tears jaw. They have a triangular cross-section, are taper to a point and the needle edges are finely serrated. On each side of the needle, a gap opening is available. The needles usually remain two to three years on the tree.

Bud

The buds of Rumelian jaws are 5 to 10 mm long, narrowly ovate, tapered and resinous.

Flowers and cones

The Ponderosa pine is monoecious getrenntgeschlechtig. It flowers in May and June. The male flowers are spike- shaped around the base of the recent long shoots. They are about 1 cm long, cylindrical and yellow to slightly reddish in color.

The female cones are small and yellowish red. They are often individually.

Cones and seeds

The Journal of Rumelian jaws are 8 to 12 cm long and very short-stalked. You are laterally projecting or hanging. The longitudinally grooved shed are wide and relatively long. The " signs " emerge very little and are slightly thickened. They ripen in October, 17 and 18 months after pollination. In contrast to the white pine cone scales of the cuticle of the mature cones are slightly bent at the Rumelian pine at the top inward. The 7-8 mm large seeds are each equipped with a 14 to 22 mm long blades (rotary flyer ). They are often spread by birds.

Bark

The bark of the pine Rumelian is smooth and silver gray in youth. In older trees is dark and rough. Later she is platy - cracked and scaly flakes off.

System

The Ponderosa pine is within the genre of pines ( Pinus ) assigned to the subgenus strobus ( Haploxylon ), the section and subsection Quinquefoliae strobus. The first description of the species as Pinus peuce was made in 1846 by the German botanist August Heinrich Rudolf Grisebach.