Fruit and Nut Trees

The Stone Pine, Umbrella Pine, Europian nut pine - Pinus pinea is member of the family Pinaceae. This is a species of pine indigen of the Mediterranean area.

It has been cultivated extensively for at least 6,000 years for the edible seeds the pine nuts. It is as well a widespread horticultural tree. It is now established in

South Africa and also planted in Australia and the United States, for the most part in California, but it can endure as far north as New Jersey.

The Stone Pine could exceed 25 m height, though 12-20 m being more of a standard. It has a very typical umbrella-like form, with a short trunk and very wide, smoothly rounded to almost flat peak. The bark is thick, red-brown and deeply fissured into broad vertical plates. The green foliages are needle-like, in bundles of two, and are 10-20 cm long.

Young trees up to 5-10 years old bear leaves, which are very dissimilar, unpaired, 2-4 cm long, blue-green; the adult leaves come along blended with juvenile leaves from the fourth or fifth year on, replacing it in full by more or less the 10th year. Juvenile leaves are also developed in re-growth following injury, such as a broken off shoot, on aged trees.

The cones are broad egg-shaped, 8-15 cm long, and take 36 months to mature, longer than any other pine. The seeds, pine nuts, are large, 2 cm long; light brown with a light-colored black coating which wipes off easily. Seeds are animal-dispersed, primarily by the azure-winged magpie. Small specimens are grown in large plantation sites or are used for Bonsai and year-old seedlings are also widely sold-out as Christmas trees.

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