PINE CHINESE RED

Chinese red pine is an evergreen, coniferous species of tree that grows to mature heights of 80 feet (25 m) tall; with a trunk to over 3 feet (1 m) in diameter, measured at breast height; and a broadly dome-shaped to flattened crown.

• Bark is scaly, and colored grayish brown or dark gray.
• First-year branchlets are light grayish brown, light brown, or yellowish brown in color; thick, with a glabrous texture.
• Foliar buds are oblong shaped and slightly resinous.
• Leaves (needles) borne in fascicles of 2 (sometimes 3), colored dark green, semiorbicular in cross section, measuring 2.4 to 6 inches (6 – 15 cm) long by 0.04 to 0.06 inch (1 – 1.5 mm), and a base with persistent sheath that is initially 0.4 to 0.8 inch (1 – 2 cm) long.
• Pollen cones measure 0.2 to 0.36 inch (5 – 9 mm) long and yellowish brown in color.
• Seed cones are held on short peduncles, initially green, turning yellowish brown to brown at maturity. They are ovoid to ovoid-globose shaped, measuring 1 to 3.6 inches (2.5 – 9 cm) long by 1.6 to 3.6 inches (4 – 9 cm) broad and usually persistent for a few years on the tree.
• Seed scales are suboblong-obovate shaped, measuring 0.64 to 0.8 inch (1.6 – 2 cm) by circa 0.56 inch (1.4 cm). Apophyses are swollen, with a broadly or irregularly rhombic outline, ridged or not, and cross keeled. Umbos protrude into a spine.
• Seeds are pale brown in color and mottled; ovoid shaped or narrowly so; measuring 0.24 to 0.32 inch (6 – 8 mm) long by 0.16 to 0.2 inch (4 – 5 mm) wide with a 0.6 to 0.72 inch (1.5-1.8 cm) wing. Pollination takes place in Apr and May; seed maturity is in October of the second 2nd year.

This species is native to China and Korea. The type variety recorded from China — Gansu, Hebei, Liaoning, Ningxia, Beijing, Shanxi, and Shaanx provinces, growing in hills and mountains at elevations of 350 to 8,500 feet (100 – 2,600 m) above sea level.

Hardy to Zone 5 — cold hardiness limit between -20° and -10°F (-28.8°C and -23.3°C).