Forest Pine (Pinus sylvestris)
| Occurrence in Děčín |
In the gardens and parks we can see a large number of forest pine forms and cultivars. Perhaps the best known is Pinus sylvestris ´Watereri´, a slowly growing variety with beautiful blue needles. In forests and parks, we can find a naturally overhanging form of Pinus sylvestris f.pendula. We can find it on Pastýřská stěna near the tourist shelter on the way from the restaurant to the Bělská vyhlídka. You can see it in the city, for example, opposite the pharmacy in Duchcovská street or in front of the entrance to the primary school in Želenice. Pine trees often create so-called "wizards", clusters of densely growing and short nests. They are produced either by bud mutation or by other organisms (then it is a disease). One of them, growing on a tall pine tree, will be seen under the aforementioned path, on a slope towards the zoo fencing in front of the turning to Palouk. |
| Application | It is very valuable in landscaping. The deciduous crown and colored bark complements the broadleaf, and contrasts with other, somewhat stiff-growing conifers. It is versatile and can be planted solely or in groups with birch trees and other woody plants. |
| Habitat |
Very adaptable grows on the rocks of dry sandy and waterlogged soils. She's light-loving. The spruce is the second most important forestry species. In the Czech Republic it is mainly spread in the lowlands, but it rises in the Ore Mountains up to 600m, in the Giant Mountains up to 800m, and in the Tatras even up to 1300m above sea level. It is resistant to frost, tolerates exhales and salted soils in the vicinity of roads. |
| Location | From the Pyrenees it occurs almost all over Europe, from mountain ranges of subtropics to Scandinavia, from Asia Minor to Caucasus, Iran and the European part of Russia, Siberia to Mongolia and Manchuria. A large area of expansion was a prerequisite for the emergence of many geographical races. For example, the table tops of the nearby hills of the Ralsko Hills find relict forms of pine. Indeed, even in the Babylon Reserve north of Jetrichovice, an ecotype of pine grows with long straight trunks that have been exported to ship masts. |
| Wood | Has high quality, usable in construction and furniture industry. |
| Fruits |
Cones: Oval-conical, 3-8cm long and 2-3.5cm wide, dull gray-brown, dark brown-red inside, labels almost rhombic and flat, prominent transverse keel on the sunny side, sometimes pyramidal elongated to hooked, with small navel at end. They are shortly stalked, woody. |
| Blossom | Blooms in late spring or early summer. The male flowers are yellow or reddish and form numerous groups of cylindrical cones at the base of young shoots. Female cones grow on the proximal end of the shoots one or more after each other and are sessile or stalked. At the bottom, they are covered with bleached scales, with two eggs at the fertile scales. After pollination, the cones close and rapidly increase in volume. |
| Leaves |
Needles: in bundles of two, rigid, mostly curved and spirally twisted, 3-7cm long and 1.5-2mm wide, pointed, edge slightly serrated, blue- or gray-green, with distinct streaks of vents. They persist for 2-4 years on the tree. Needle scabbard 6-10mm long. |
| Branches | Young annuals yellowish to green, glabrous. |
| Rind | Bark on younger trees orange-rusty, scaly-flaking, gray-brown in the old trees at the bottom and furrowed longitudinally. |
| Treetop | A 25-40 m tall tree with a crown initially conical, later irregularly spaced to flat or umbrella. It is 300-350 years old, up to 2m in diameter in the elderly. |
| Note |
The largest species representatives in Northern Bohemia were the “Libotenická” pine near Terezín and the “Tobiáš” pine in the Lužické Mountains. The former is described by Marie Hrušková in her book Memorable Trees as the Most Painted Pine in the Czech Republic (with a drawing by J.Turka). Both dried up decades ago, but for a long time they stood as dry torsos with remarkably curled trunks. Today, the largest trees of the species in the Czech Republic are Biskupická borovice (SY) with a trunk perimeter of 390 cm, Libáňská Pine (JC) obv. 320cm and Swidnica Pine (RK), obv. 280cm. The monumentaltrees.com server lists by far the largest pine in our country in Lom u Tachova (482cm, v. 15m). This individual is among the largest specimens of its kind in the world.
The largest ever monumentaltrees.com records pine in the Muirward Forest in Scotland, which has 645cm in perimeter and 30m in height.
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