A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus Pinus of the family 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. 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 types of lumber. The pine family is the largest conifer family and there are currently 818 named cultivars recognized by the ACS.
Conifers are a group of cone-bearing seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the division Pinophyta, also known as Coniferophyta or Coniferae. The division contains a single extant class, Pinopsida. All extant conifers are perennial woody plants with secondary growth. The great majority are trees, though a few are shrubs. Examples include cedars, Douglas-firs, cypresses, firs, junipers, kauri, larches, pines, hemlocks, redwoods, spruces, and yews. The division Pinophyta contains seven families, 60 to 65 genera, and more than 600 living species.
The nutcrackers (Nucifraga) are a genus of three species of passerine bird, in the family Corvidae, related to the jays and crows.
Pine nuts, also called piñón, pinoli, pignoli, bondoq or chilgoza, are the edible seeds of pines. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization, only 29 species provide edible nuts, while 20 are traded locally or internationally owing to their seed size being large enough to be worth harvesting; in other pines, the seeds are also edible but are too small to be of notable value as human food.
The pinyon or piñon pine group grows in southwestern North America, especially in New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona, and Utah. The trees yield edible nuts, which are a staple food of Native Americans, and widely eaten as a snack and as an ingredient in New Mexican cuisine. The name comes from the Spanish pino piñonero, a name used for both the American varieties and the stone pine common in Spain, which also produces edible nuts typical of Mediterranean cuisine. Harvesting techniques of the prehistoric American Indians are still used today to collect the pinyon seeds for personal use or for commercialization. The pinyon nut or seed is high in fats and calories.
Pinus sabiniana, with vernacular names including towani pine, foothill pine, gray pine, bull pine, and digger pine, is a pine endemic to California in the United States. Some sources discourage using the name "digger pine," considering it pejorative.
Pinus nigra, the Austrian pine or black pine, is a moderately variable species of pine, occurring across Southern Europe from the Iberian Peninsula to the eastern Mediterranean, on the Anatolian peninsula of Turkey, Corsica and Cyprus, as well as Crimea and in the high mountains of Northwest Africa.
The spotted nutcracker, Eurasian nutcracker, or simply nutcracker is a passerine bird slightly larger than the Eurasian jay. It has a much larger bill and a slimmer looking head without any crest. The feathering over its body is predominantly chocolate brown with distinct white spots and streaks. The wings and upper tail are virtually black with a greenish-blue gloss.
Pinus densiflora, also called the Japanese red pine, the Japanese pine, or Korean red pine, is a species of pine tree native to East Asia. In China it is known as 赤松.
Jack pine, also known as grey pine or scrub pine, is a North American pine.
The stone pine, botanical name Pinus pinea, also known as the Italian stone pine, Mediterranean stone pine, umbrella pine and parasol pine, is a tree from the pine family (Pinaceae). The tree is native to the Mediterranean region, occurring in Southern Europe and the Levant. The species was introduced into North Africa millennia ago, and is also naturalized in the Canary Islands, South Africa and New South Wales.
Pinus longaeva is a long-living species of bristlecone pine tree found in the higher mountains of California, Nevada, and Utah. Methuselah is a bristlecone pine that is 4,854 years old and has been credited as the oldest known living non-clonal organism on Earth. To protect it, the exact location of this tree is kept secret. In 1987, the bristlecone pine was designated one of Nevada's state trees.
Pinus cembra, also known as Swiss pine, Swiss stone pine or Arolla pine or Austrian stone pine or just stone pine, is a species of pine tree in the subgenus Strobus.
Pinus monophylla, the single-leaf pinyon, is a pine in the pinyon pine group, native to North America. The range is in southernmost Idaho, western Utah, Arizona, southwest New Mexico, Nevada, eastern and southern California and northern Baja California.
Pinus gerardiana, commonly known as the chilghoza pine or neja is a pine native to the northwestern Himalayas in Afghanistan, northern Pakistan, Waziristan and northwestern India, growing at elevations of 1,800–3,350 metres (5,910–10,990 ft). It often occurs in association with Cedrus deodara and Pinus wallichiana.
Pinus armandii, the Armand pine or Chinese white pine, is a species of pine native to China, occurring from southern Shanxi west to southern Gansu and south to Yunnan, with outlying populations in Anhui. It grows at altitudes of 2200–3000 m in Taiwan, and it also extends a short distance into northern Burma. In Chinese it is known as "Mount Hua pine" (华山松).
Pinus bungeana, also known by the common names Bunge's pine, lacebark pine and white-barked pine, is a pine tree native to northeastern and central China. It is a slow-growing tree that can grow to heights of 15–25 metres (49–82 ft) is frost hardy down to below −26 °C (−15 °F). Its smooth, grey-green bark gradually sheds in round scales to reveal patches of pale yellow, which turn olive-brown, red and purple on exposure to light.
Araucaria angustifolia, the Paraná pine, Brazilian pine or candelabra tree, is a critically endangered species in the conifer genus Araucaria. Although the common names in various languages refer to the species as a "pine", it does not belong in the genus Pinus.
Conifer nuts are the edible seeds of conifers, which includes most notably pine nuts and Araucaria nuts.
