Maritime pine
Pinus pinaster
Family · Pinaceae · Harmless
The pine that covers half of Portugal's forest and has fixed the coastal dunes since the 13th century. Thick long needles, pointed cones, and a resin that was once a national industry.
Pine woods · Dunes and sand · Uplands · Scrubland
Also known ascluster pine
How to tell it
Needles in pairs, thick, stiff and very long, among the longest of European pines. A large, conical, pointed, glossy cone. Thick bark in deep dark plates.
What it is confused with
Stone pine
Pinus pinea
The silhouette is enough: stone pine is an umbrella, maritime pine an irregular cone. And the stone pine cone is round and heavy, the maritime one long and pointed.
What it is for
Timber, pulp and resin. It is also the species that burns most: a dense unmanaged maritime pine stand is the ideal fuel for a major fire, and that is part of reading it properly.
Where it occurs
Each square is an area with recorded observations of this plant. The lighter background is the set of areas where any of the entries has been observed, and serves as a reference. Note what this is not: it is not where the plant lives, it is where people record it, so trails and towns always look fuller than the mountains. Data from GBIF.
Sources
Community
No approved contributions for this entry yet.
Nothing appears here without a person reading it first. Contributions do not replace the entry or its warnings: until a botanist confirms, what is written above stands.