Stone pine

Family

Pinaceae

Habit

Tree

Height

20 m

Spread

10 m

Growth

medium

Lifespan

175 years

First yield

after 17 years

Yield per plant

up to 60 kg a year

Yield in cultivation

up to 1 t/ha

Energy yield

15 kcal per m² a year

Hardiness

zone 8–10

Shade tolerance

full sun

Soil

Sand, Silt

Soil moisture

dry – moist

pH

6 – 8

Times apply to the northern hemisphere in a temperate climate and shift with altitude and cultivar.

Edible: The seed can be consumed raw or cooked, offering a soft texture with a hint of resin in taste, suitable as a delicious snack or staple food. Commonly used in ice cream, cakes, pudding, and various dishes, these seeds can also be ground into powder to thicken and flavor soups and other meals. Measuring up to 20 mm x 10 mm, they serve as a significant source of pine nuts in the market. Additionally, a vanilla aroma can be extracted as a byproduct of other resins released from the pulpwood. Young fir cones can also be ground into powder and utilized as a flavoring agent.

Medicinal: Pine resin-derived turpentine offers various health benefits, acting as an antiseptic, diuretic, rubefacient, and vermifuge. It is used internally for kidney and bladder issues and externally for rheumatic conditions. Additionally, it may aid in respiratory problems such as coughs, colds, and flu. Externally, turpentine can be applied to skin conditions, wounds, burns, and boils using rubs, compresses, herbal steam baths, and inhalers.

Other uses: Pins are the main components of dyes and terpenes extracted from resin and turpentine. Resin is obtained by distilling wood, while turpentine is used as a solvent to produce varnishes and for medical purposes. Rosin is a by-product in the production of turpentine. Pitch is obtained from the resin, and the wood is used for carpentry and furniture making.

Thrives in well-draining sandy or gravelly loamy soil. Does not tolerate poorly draining moorland soils and shady locations. Established plants withstand drought. Also grows well in calcareous soil. This species is hardy to about -18°C. While sometimes considered somewhat sensitive in this country, it is fully hardy up to the southeast of Scotland. The Italian evergreen oak is extensively cultivated in Europe for its edible seeds. The 'Fragilis' variety has thin-walled seeds and is the most widespread form. Trees take between 10 and 20 years to produce cones from seeds. Plants are highly cross-pollinated, self-fertilized seeds usually grow poorly. This species does not hybridize with other members of this genus. Leaf secretions inhibit seed germination, reducing the number of plants that can grow under the trees. Plants of this genus are particularly susceptible to honey fungus.

The stone pine is raised from seed — from the pine nuts themselves. Cones ripen only in the autumn of the third year after flowering, fertilisation following some twenty-four months after pollination; among pines it is a notable late starter. The seeds are large and heavy, with a thousand-grain weight between 500 and 1100 grams, and the wing is merely rudimentary. For sowing, the nuts are freed from opened cones and stratified cool and moist for a few weeks, which makes germination markedly more even. Sow deep, into sandy, free-draining substrate. Seedlings carry ten to twelve cotyledons and form a strong taproot early, so they belong in deep pots and should go to their final position young, since older plants transplant badly. The first cones of their own appear after fifteen to twenty years.

The stone pine is wind-pollinated, so its flowering is of no value to bees and hoverflies; it offers no nectar, and the pollen shed in quantity in May is gathered at most as a substitute. Its contribution to wildlife lies elsewhere. The seeds are large, oil-rich and carry only a stunted wing — a clear sign that dispersal falls not to the wind but to birds and rodents, which carry the nuts off and cache them; in Mediterranean stands the cones are a dependable winter food. The structure matters just as much: the broad umbrella crown is in leaf all year and offers cover, shelter from wind and nesting sites at a season when broadleaved trees stand bare. The coarsely fissured, scaly bark of older trunks harbours spiders, beetles and overwintering insects.

Special features: cones ripen only in the 3rd year, fertilisation ~24 months after pollination; umbrella crown only from ~50 years of age; highly drought-resistant; hardy to -25°C only in dry air, markedly more sensitive in high humidity; taproot - older specimens transplant badly; first cones after 15-20 years; timber resinous+not durable (construction+furniture+masts);

The northern Mediterranean: from the Iberian peninsula across southern France, Italy and the Balkans to Anatolia, together with the larger Mediterranean islands. Where the original range ends and cultivation begins can scarcely be separated any more — the stone pine has been grown for its edible seeds since antiquity, spread by Etruscans and Romans, and now stands in extensive stands that go back to planting; the umbrella pines of the Italian coastal landscape are largely planted too. The main growing areas lie in Spain, Portugal, Turkey and Italy. Outside the Mediterranean it is cultivated in California, South Africa and Australia; in Central Europe it thrives outdoors only in vine-growing climates, and otherwise as a container plant.

The stone pine is a warmth-loving, light-demanding tree of low ground near the coast. It occupies dunes, sandy coastal plains, open pine woodland and maquis, and climbs from sea level to about 1000 metres. It prefers fresh, slightly acid to acid sands, but tolerates a wide span from pH 4 to 9 and so also calcareous ground. Annual rainfall at its sites runs between 400 and 800 millimetres; it comes through long summer drought remarkably well thanks to a deep taproot. It will not tolerate shade and loses any competition for light. On coastal dunes it works against sand drift and wind, which is why large stands were deliberately established for coastal stabilisation. To the north winter cold limits its range, particularly in combination with high humidity.