Scots Pine: Meaning & Use

Together with its cousins, Aleppo pines and maritime pines, they cover 20% of the French forest.

Scots Pine

Scots pine ( Pinus sylvestris ), from the Pinaceae family, has several names, such as "Auvergne pine", "Geneva pine", "red pine" or "Scottish pine" ". This pine covers all of Europe and a good part of Siberia, up to 1600 meters of altitude.

Why does EcoTree plant Sylvester Pines?

Scots pine does not fear periods of drought and is therefore resistant to global warming. In addition, it often coexists with oak.
It is one of the European softwood species most commonly used for joinery and carpentry.

Scots Pine - Overview

Scots Pine - Overview

The Scots pine is the most beautiful pine in Europe , recognizable by the luster of its red bark and the beauty of its bluish foliage. Its height can reach 40 to 50 meters. The bark of this species, gray in young individuals, gradually turns orange-brown with age. While the bark of its crown becomes thinner and comes off in thin patches, that of the lower part of the trunk reveals deep furrows. Its needles, twisted and twisted, measure 4 to 8 centimeters in length. Gray-green or bluish-gray in color, they are flexible, pointed but not prickly. From April, its reddish female catkins are located at the end of the twigs of the year, while its pale yellow male catkins are grouped in compact masses at their base.
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Scots Pine

Scots Pine - Species requirements

Scots pine is hardy and adapts to poor soil conditions. This monoecious conifer tolerates drought as well as extreme cold. Very resistant to cold, down to -50 ° C, and to heat, this species establishes itself in a good number of stations that other trees do not. would not agree to occupy. Scots pine needs light, it will appreciate sunny situations, in light soil, a little acidic but above all not calcareous, well drained. Planting is done more in the fall, or even until April except during periods of frost. It establishes itself deeply in the soil thanks to its root system and its taproot.

The wood of The Scots Pine

This resinous species was once very appreciated by shipwrights, for the good qualities of its wood. Nowadays, this tree finds multiple uses in the fields of construction, carpentry and the paper industry. Its flexible reddish yellow wood is used in building and shipbuilding as well as exterior as structural timber, framework, for the manufacture of joinery and floors. It is also used in the manufacture of pulp, plywood, pallets and crates.

Scots pine symbol

The Scots pine is the tree of long life . Its durability and tenacity are measured by the inhospitable altitudes and the poverty of the soils where it lives. Some North American pines, for example, can reach 4,500 years old. Chinese and Japanese artists considered it to be the symbol of vitality and health , both in nature and among men.

After a long and successful career, your colleague or loved one is retiring and you want to offer him an original and ecological retirement gift ? So that the departure is a moment that will be remembered, offer a Scots pine, an imposing and particularly unusual gift!