Stone pine

The stone pine is a coniferous evergreen tree that can exceed in height, but is more typical. In youth, it is a bushy globe, in mid-age an umbrella canopy on a thick trunk, and, in maturity, a broad and flat crown over in width. The bark is thick, red-brown and deeply fissured into broad vertical plates. ;Foliage The flexible mid-green leaves are needle-like, in bundles of two, and are long (exceptionally up to ). Young trees up to 5–10 years old bear juvenile leaves, which are very different, single (not paired), long, glaucous blue-green; the adult leaves appear mixed with juvenile leaves from the fourth or fifth year on, replacing it fully by around the tenth year. Juvenile leaves are also produced in regrowth following injury, such as a broken shoot, on older trees. The cones are broad, ovoid, long, and take 36 months to mature, longer than any other pine. The seeds (pine nuts, piñones, pinhões, pinoli, or pignons) are large, long, and pale brown with a powdery black coating that rubs off easily, and have a rudimentary wing that falls off very easily. The wing is ineffective for wind dispersal, and the seeds are animal-dispersed, originally mainly by the Iberian magpie, but in recent history largely by humans. ==Distribution and habitat==

The Pinus pinea is a characteristic, yet controversial, species throughout the Mediterranean basin. Its definitive native range is highly debated. Strong evidence suggests its origin is in the Western Mediterranean, particularly the Iberian Peninsula (Portugal and Spain), where the most extensive natural stands are found, and where it reaches its highest altitudes. The presence of Paleolithic and Pleistocene sites containing the remains of Pinus pinea on the South Iberian Peninsula provides strong evidence that the species was once part of the natural forest ecosystem in that region. Furthermore, the presence of pollen dating between 18-22 thousand years ago (end of Pleistocene) in Southern France supports the hypothesis of its native status there. Conversely, other opinions suggest a native presence extending to the Central and Eastern Mediterranean, specifically regions of Italy (Tuscany, Sardinia, Sicily), the Peloponnese (Greece), the coasts of Asia Minor (Turkey), and Lebanon. The species has been intensively cultivated for its valuable edible nuts and wood since at least the 4th century B.C. and earlier. This long history of human intervention means that while it is found today across coastal areas from Portugal to Lebanon and the Black Sea, it is often impossible to distinguish between truly native stands and those that are now naturalized from ancient artificial plantings. an extensive stone pine forest exists in western Peloponnese at Strofylia on the peninsula separating the Kalogria Lagoon from the Mediterranean Sea. This coastal forest is at least long, with dense and tall stands of Pinus pinea mixed with Pinus halepensis. Currently, P. halepensis is outcompeting stone pines in many locations of the forest. Another location in Greece is at Koukounaries on the northern Aegean island of Skiathos at the southwest corner of the island. This is a half-mile-long dense stand of stone and Aleppo pines that lies between a lagoon and the Aegean Sea. ;Western Asia: , Lebanon In Western Asia, the Eastern Mediterranean conifer-sclerophyllous-broadleaf forests ecoregion in Turkey; and the Southern Anatolian montane conifer and deciduous forests ecoregion in Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Israel and in the Palestinian Territories. ;Northern Africa The Mediterranean woodlands and forests ecoregion of North Africa, in Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria. ;South Africa In the Western Cape Province, the pines were according to legend planted by the French Huguenot refugees who settled at the Cape of Good Hope during the late 17th century and who brought the seeds with them from France. The tree is known in the Afrikaans language as kroonden. ==Ecology==

Pinus pinea is a diagnostic species of the vegetation class Pinetea halepensis. Pests The introduced Western conifer seed bug (Leptoglossus occidentalis) was accidentally imported with timber to northern Italy in the late 1990s from the western US, and has spread across Europe as an invasive pest species since then. It feeds on the sap of developing conifer cones throughout its life, and its sap-sucking causes the developing seeds to wither and misdevelop. It has destroyed most of the pine nut seeds in Italy, threatening P. pinea in its native habitats there. Pestalotiopsis pini (a genus of ascomycete fungi), was found as an emerging pathogen on Pinus pinea in Portugal. Evidence of shoot blight and stem necrosis were found in stone pine orchards and urban areas in 2020. The edible pine nut production has been decreasing in the affected area due to several factors, including pests and diseases. The fungus was found on needles, shoots and trunks of P. pinea and also on P. pinaster. Pestalotiopsis fungal species could represent a threat to the health of pine forests in the Mediterranean basin. ==Uses==

Food Pinus pinea has been cultivated extensively for at least 6,000 years for its edible pine nuts, which have been trade items since early historic times. The tree has been cultivated throughout the Mediterranean region for so long that it has naturalized, and is often considered native beyond its natural range. Ornamental The tree is among the current symbols of Rome. It was first planted in Rome during the Roman Republic, where many historic Roman roads, such as the Via Appia, were (and still are) embellished with lines of stone pines. Stone pines were planted on the hills of the Bosphorus strait in Istanbul for ornamental purposes during the Ottoman period. In Italy, the stone pine has been an aesthetic landscape element since the Italian Renaissance garden period. In the 1700s, P. pinea began being introduced as an ornamental tree to other Mediterranean climate regions of the world, and is now often found in gardens and parks in South Africa, California, and Australia. It has naturalized beyond cities in South Africa to the extent that it is listed as an invasive species there. It is also planted in western Europe up to southern Scotland, and on the East Coast of the United States up to New Jersey. In the United Kingdom it has won the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit. ==Gallery==

Image:Pinus pinea foliage.jpg|Needles of a juvenile (left) and adult (right) Image:Pinus Pinea juvenile.JPG|Seedling Image:Pinuspinea.jpg|Close-up of the bark's vertical texture File:Pinus pinea Bayonne.jpg| Trunk and crown of mature tree File:Appia antica 2-7-05 048.jpg|Pines on Via Appia Antica Image:Pines - Villa Borghese - Rome, Italy - DSC04555.jpg|Adult stone pines at Villa Borghese gardens, Rome Image:0 Pin remarquable de la villa Médicis à Rome (1).JPG|Pine at Villa Medici, Rome Image:Foro di Augusto din Roma1.jpg|The tree is among the symbols of Rome and its historic streets, such as the Via dei Fori Imperiali. Image:Yağlıkçı Hacı Reşit Bey and Prenses Rukiye Yalısı on the Bosphorus, Istanbul, Turkey 001.jpg|Stone pines were planted on the hills of the Bosphorus strait in Istanbul for ornamental purposes during the Ottoman period. File:Алупка,_2019_год,_03.jpg|Stone pines on the Crimean Riviera, Ukraine File:Stone pine - Pinus pinea.JPG|Fresh shoots with female strobili File:Young Pinus pinea in Partenit.jpg|Young tree in Crimea, Ukraine File:Pinus pinea Pompeii.jpg|Tree in Pompeii ==References==