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Austrian pine (Pinus nigra)

Austrian pine Description: Widely used for lumber due to its fast growth. Introduced to North America as an ornamental tree in gardens and parks.

Habit: Evergreen needle conifer tree, medium to large in size, 50-70 ft tall to 20-40 ft wide, pyramidal and dense when young, becoming flat-topped, with spreading branches and umbrella shaped with age.

Leaves: Needles in twos, dark army green in color, needles are 4-6 in long and persist 3-4 years, persistent leaf bases visible after needles fall, leaving stems rough, candles (buds) 0.5-1 in long, light brown and resinous.

Stems: Thick, irregular, gray-brown to silvery plates, deep furrows are dark brown in color.

Flowers: Male flowers are yellowish in color and found in clusters. Female flowers are yellow-green in color.

Fruit and seeds: Cones are a shiny yellow-brown color, 2-3 in long and approximately 2 in wide, persists for 2 years.

Habitat: Native to the southern Mediterranean Europe from Spain to the Crimea. Grows well in most soils, it is tolerant of heat, pollution and urban conditions, tolerant of salt and needs full sun.

Reproduction: By seed germination without pretreatment and grafted cultivars.

Similar species: Red pine (Pinus resinosa).

Credits: The information provided in this factsheet was gathered from the University of Connecticut Horticulture Plant Database.

Individual species images that appear with a number in a black box are courtesy of the Bugwood.org network (http://www.invasive.org).Individual photo author credits may not be included due to the small display size of the images and subsequent difficulty of reading the provided text. All other images appear courtesy of Google (http://images.google.com).


Common Name:

Austrian pine

Scientific Name:

Pinus nigra

Family:

Pinaceae
(Pine)

Duration:

Perennial

Habit:

Trees

USDA Symbol:

PINI