Black pine
Pinus nigra
Family · Pinaceae · Harmless
The pine of inland limestone sierras, straight as a mast and dark of foliage. It makes the great high-altitude pine forests of Cazorla and the Iberian System, and can live a thousand years.
Where it grows
Uplands
Also known asAustrian pine, European black pine
In flower
In fruit
How to tell it
Needles in pairs, stiff, dark and slightly curved, longer than Aleppo pine's but shorter than maritime pine's. A straight trunk with pale grey plated bark. A dark, dense crown.
What it is confused with
No dangerous lookalikes known in the Iberian Peninsula.
What it is for
Quality construction timber, among the best of the Iberian conifers. Widely planted in 20th-century mountain reforestation.