Pinus pumila

(Pallas) Regel 1858

Common names

Japanese stone pine (Silba 1986), Kedrovy stlanik (=creeping cedar) [Russian] (Vladimir Dinets e-mail 10-Jan-1998), Siberian dwarf pine, pin nain de Sibérie.

Taxonomic notes

Syn: Pinus cembra Linnaeus var. pumila Pallas 1784; P. cembra var. pygmaea Loudon (Wu and Raven 1999).

Description

"Shrubs to 6 m tall, usually with creeping branches to 10 m; bark gray-brown, flaking; branchlets initially brown, dark red-brown in 2nd or 3rd year, densely pubescent; winter buds red-brown, conical-ovoid, slightly resinous. Needles 5 per bundle, trapeziform in cross section, 4-6(-8.3) cm × ca. 1 mm, stiff, vascular bundle 1, resin canals (1 or)2, marginal, base with sheath shed. Seed cones erect, maturing to pale purple- or red-brown, conical-ovoid or ovoid, 3-4.5 × 2.5-3 cm, indehiscent or imperfectly dehiscent at maturity. Seed scales broadly subrhombic or rhombic-obovate; apophyses broadly triangular, thick, swollen, margin slightly recurved; umbo purple-black, distinct, ending in a slightly recurved protuberance. Seeds dark brown, triangular-obovoid, 7-10 × 5-7 mm, wingless, abaxial margin ridged" (Wu and Raven 1999).

Range

Japan, Manchuria, N Korea, N Mongolia, Siberia E from Yenisey River, China: Heilongjiang, Jilin, Nei Mongol (at 1000-2300 m elevation) (Wu and Raven 1999). "Introduced to Hibiny Mts. of Kolsky Peninsula. Forms broad belt just above timberline, pure or (on E coast) with alders or willows. In E and NE parts of its area and in cold intermontane valleys descends to sea level" (Vladimir Dinets e-mail 1998.01.10). USDA Zone 4.

Subarctic Dwarf Pine Thickets (2006.09.18) has a good map showing a most of P. pumila's Siberian distribution (also has some good photos).

Big tree

Although it never gets very tall, V. Dinets reports specimens with a crown up to 25-30 m in diameter, in Chara Valley, Transbaikalia (Vladimir Dinets e-mail 1998.01.10).

Oldest

Dendrochronology

Ethnobotany

Observations

Remarks

The blister rust Peridermium kurilense, a close relative of Cronartium ribicola, afflicts P. pumila in its native habitat (Colley and Taylor 1927).

Citations

Colley, R.H. and M.W. Taylor. 1927. Peridermium kurilense Diet. on Pinus pumila Pall., and Peridermium indicum N.Sp. on Pinus excelsa Wall. Journal of Agricultural Research 34(4):327-330. Available online at http://preserve.nal.usda.gov:8300/jag/v34/v34i4/340327/a340327.htm (2004.01.06).

See also

Farjon 1984.

Khomentovsky, Peter A. 2003. Ecology of Siberian dwarf pine Pinus pumila (Pallas) Regel in Kamchatka. Science Publishers, Incorporated. ISBN 1578081890. Available for purchase at Amazon.com (2004.01.06).

Richardson 1998.

Tikhomirov, B.A. 1949. Pinus pumila thickets: their biology and use. Moscow. ABS: A treatise on the biology, ecology and distrubution of Pinus pumila woodlands in the former Soviet Union [in Russian].

Wu and Raven 1999.

Yanagimachi, O. and H. Ohmori. 1991. Ecological status of Pinus pumila scrub and the lower boundary of the Japanese alpine zone. Arctic and Alpine Research 23:424-435.