Kingdom Plantae Order Pinales Genus Pinus Scientific name Pinus dalatensis Rank Species | Division Pinophyta Family Pinaceae Subgenus Strobus Higher classification Pine | |
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Similar Pine, Pinus krempfii, Pinus fenzeliana, Pinus amamiana, Pinus wangii | ||
Pinus dalatensis, also known as Vietnamese white pine or Dalat pine, is a species of pine endemic to Indochina. In Vietnam it grows in the mountains of the central and south-central parts of the country at elevations of 1,400 to 2,300 metres (4,600 to 7,500 ft). Only recently confirmed from Laos, the population located within the Nakai-Nam Theun Biodiversity Conservation Area is the largest, at the lowest elevation, and the northernmost of the known populations of P. dalatensis.
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Description
Pinus dalatensis is a medium-sized evergreen tree growing to 30 to 40 metres (98 to 131 ft) tall. It is a member of the white pine group, Pinus subgenus Strobus, and like all members of that group, the leaves ('needles') are in fascicles (bundles) of five, with a deciduous sheath. The needles are finely serrated, and (3-)5–14 cm long.
The cones are slender, 6 to 23 centimetres (2.4 to 9.1 in) long and 2 to 4 centimetres (0.79 to 1.57 in) broad (closed), opening to 3 to 9 centimetres (1.2 to 3.5 in) broad; the scales are thin and flexible. The seeds are small, 6 to 8 millimetres (0.24 to 0.31 in) long, and have a long slender wing 18 to 25 millimetres (0.71 to 0.98 in) long. It is most closely related to the blue pine Pinus wallichiana from the Himalaya.
Subspecies
It is divided into two subspecies:
