Scots pine
Pinus sylvestris
Family · Pinaceae · Harmless
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The high mountain pine, and the only one recognised by colour: the upper trunk is orange-red and peels in paper-thin flakes. In the Peninsula it lives in the cold sierras, and it is the most widely distributed pine in the world.
Where it grows
Uplands
Also known asScots fir
In flower
In fruit
How to tell it
The orange upper third of the trunk is unmistakable and visible from a hundred metres. Needles in pairs, short, blue-green and twisted on themselves. Small grey cones.
What it is confused with
No dangerous lookalikes known in the Iberian Peninsula.
What it is for
Redwood timber, used in carpentry and construction forever. The Valsaín pine forests have been continuously managed for centuries and are a case study in a forest that is productive and alive at once.