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.
Uplands
Also known asScots fir
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.
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
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