''Pinus sibirica'', or Siberian pine, in the family

Pinaceae The Pinaceae (), or pine family, are conifer trees or shrubs, including many of the well-known conifers of commercial importance such as Cedrus, cedars, firs, Tsuga, hemlocks, Pinyon_pine, piñons, larches, pines and spruces. The family is incl ...

is a species of

pine 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. ''World Flora Online'' accepts 134 species-rank taxa (119 species and 15 nothospecies) of pines as cu ...

tree that occurs in

Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...

from 58°E in the Ural Mountains east to 126°E in the Stanovoy Range in southern

Sakha Republic Sakha, officially the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), is a republics of Russia, republic of Russia, and the largest federal subject of Russia by area. It is located in the Russian Far East, along the Arctic Ocean, with a population of one million ...

, and from Igarka at 68°N in the lower Yenisei valley, south to 45°N in central

Mongolia Mongolia is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south and southeast. It covers an area of , with a population of 3.5 million, making it the world's List of countries and dependencies by po ...

Description

''Pinus sibirica'' is a member of the white pine group, ''

Pinus 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. ''World Flora Online'' accepts 134 species-rank taxa (119 species and 15 nothospecies) of pines as c ...

'' subgenus '' Strobus'', and like all members of that group, the leaves ('needles') are in fascicles (bundles) of five, with a deciduous sheath. They are 5–10 cm long. Siberian pine cones are 5–9 cm long. The 9–12 mm long

seed In botany, a seed is a plant structure containing an embryo and stored nutrients in a protective coat called a ''testa''. More generally, the term "seed" means anything that can be Sowing, sown, which may include seed and husk or tuber. Seeds ...

s have only a vestigial wing and are dispersed by spotted nutcrackers. Siberian pine is treated as a variety or subspecies of the very similar Swiss pine (''Pinus cembra'') by some botanists. It differs in having slightly larger cones, and needles with three

resin A resin is a solid or highly viscous liquid that can be converted into a polymer. Resins may be biological or synthetic in origin, but are typically harvested from plants. Resins are mixtures of organic compounds, predominantly terpenes. Commo ...

canals instead of two in Swiss pine. Like other European and

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

n white pines, Siberian pine is very resistant to white pine blister rust (''Cronartium ribicola''). This fungal disease was accidentally introduced from

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

into

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

, where it has caused severe mortality in the American native white pines in many areas, notably the closely related whitebark pine. Siberian pine is of great value for research into hybridisation and genetic modification to develop rust resistance in these species. File:Flowering pine cones.png, Flowering pine cones Pinus sibirica cone and shoots PAN.JPG, Cone File:Pinus sibirica Sosna syberyjska 2020-07-23 01.jpg, Foliage File:Seeds of Pinus sibirica.jpg, seeds

Distribution

In the north of its range, it grows at low altitudes, typically 100–200 m, whereas further south, it is a

mountain A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually higher t ...

tree, growing at 1,000-2,400 m altitude. It often reaches the alpine tree line in this area. The mature size is up to 30–40 m height, and 1.5 m trunk diameter. Its maximum lifetime is 800–850 years. File:Улаганский перевал - panoramio - Tanya Dedyukhina (3).jpg, ''Pinus sibirica'' Ulagansky Pass near Ulagan, Russia File:Ергаги 07.jpg, ''Pinus sibirica'' in Ergaki, Ermakovskiy district

Cultivation

Siberian pine, ''Pinus sibirica'', is a popular ornamental tree in

park A park is an area of natural, semi-natural or planted space set aside for human enjoyment and recreation or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. Urban parks are urban green space, green spaces set aside for recreation inside t ...

s and large

garden A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the cultivation, display, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The single feature identifying even the wildest wild garden is ''control''. The garden can incorporate bot ...

s where the

climate Climate is the long-term weather pattern in a region, typically averaged over 30 years. More rigorously, it is the mean and variability of meteorological variables over a time spanning from months to millions of years. Some of the meteoro ...

is cold, such as central

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

, giving steady though not fast growth on a wide range of sites. It is very tolerant of severe winter cold, hardy down to at least –60 °C, and also of wind exposure. The seeds are also harvested and sold as pine nuts, which in Russia are marketed as ''Cedar nuts'' ().

"Siberian cedar"

The Russian name Сибирский кедр ( tr. Sibirsky kedr) is usually translated in English as "Siberian cedar." References to "cedar" or "dwarf cedar" in texts translated from Russian usually refer to this tree or related pines, not to true cedars.

Chemistry

Pinostilbene is a stilbenoid found, along with

resveratrol Resveratrol (3,5,4′-trihydroxy-''trans''-stilbene) is a stilbenoid, a type of natural phenol or polyphenol and a phytoalexin produced by several plants in response to injury or when the plant is under attack by pathogens, such as bacterium, ba ...

, in the bark of ''P. sibirica''.Hydroxystilbenes from the bark of Pinus sibirica. N. A. Tyukavkina, A. S. Gromova, V. I. Lutskii and V. K. Voronov, Chemistry of Natural Compounds, September 1972, Volume 8, Issue 5, pages 570-572,

References

External links

Pinetum.org: ''Pinus sibirica'' cone picture
- (''scroll to bottom of page'') * {{Authority control Edible nuts and seeds Flora of Mongolia Flora of Northeast Asia Flora of Russia Garden plants of Asia Least concern plants Ornamental trees Sibirica Trees of continental subarctic climate Trees of Russia Trees of Siberia Trees of Asia