Girish Mahajan (Editor)

Pinus mugo

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Kingdom
  
Plantae

Class
  
Pinopsida

Family
  
Pinaceae

Scientific name
  
Pinus mugo

Division
  
Pinophyta

Order
  
Pinales

Genus
  
Pinus

Rank
  
Species

Pinus mugo Pinus mugo Mugo pine Go Botany

Similar
  
Pinus cembra, Pinus pumila, Shadbush, Pinus sibirica, Korean Pine

Pinus mugo ficha y trasplante


Pinus mugo, known as creeping pine, dwarf mountainpine, mugo pine, mountain pine, scrub mountain pine or Swiss mountain pine, is a species of conifer, native to high elevation habitats from southwestern to Central Europe.

Contents

Pinus mugo Pinus mugo Mugo pine Go Botany

Pinus mugo pinzado de velas


Distribution

Pinus mugo Pinus mugo EUFORGEN European forest genetic resources programme

Pinus mugo is native to the Pyrenees, Alps, Erzgebirge, Carpathians, northern Apennines, and higher Balkan Peninsula mountains. It is usually found from 1,000–2,200 m (3,281–7,218 ft), occasionally as low as 200 m (656 ft) in the north of the range in Germany and Poland, and as high as 2,700 m (8,858 ft) in the south of the range in Bulgaria and the Pyrenees.

Pinus mugo was planted in coastal Denmark for sand dune stabilization. It has naturalized and become invasive.

Subspecies

There are three subspecies:

Pinus mugo httpsuploadwikimediaorgwikipediacommonsthu

  • Pinus mugo subsp. mugo — in the east and south of the range (southern & eastern Alps, Balkan Peninsula), a low, shrubby, often multi-stemmed plant to 3–6 m (10–20 ft) tall with symmetrical cones.
  • Pinus mugo subsp. uncinata — in the west and north of the range (from the Pyrenees northeast to Poland), a larger, usually single-stemmed tree to 20 m (66 ft) tall with asymmetrical cones (the scales are much thicker on one side of the cone than the other).
    Some botanists treat the western subspecies as a separate species, Pinus uncinata, others as only a variety, Pinus mugo var. rostrata. This subspecies in the Pyrenees marks the alpine tree line or timberline, the edge of the habitat at which trees are capable of growing.
  • Pinus mugo subsp. rotundata — hybrid subspecies, of the two subspecies above that intergrade extensively in the western Alps and northern Carpathians.
  • Both subspecies have similar foliage, with dark green leaves ("needles") in pairs, 3–7 cm (1.2–2.8 in) long.

    Pinus mugo Plants Profile for Pinus mugo mugo pine

    The cones are nut-brown, 2.5–5.5 cm (0.98–2.17 in) long: and in subsp. mugo are symmetrical, thin-scaled and matt textured; and in subsp. uncinata are asymmetrical with thick scales on the upper side of the cone, thin on the lower side, and glossy textured.

    Pinus mugo Pinus Mugo Conifer Mga Centre Groupe

    An old name for the species Pinus montana is still occasionally seen, and a typographical error "mugho" (first made in a prominent 18th century encyclopedia) is still repeated surprisingly often.

    Cultivation

    Pinus mugo Mugo Pine Pinus mugo 39Mugo39 Foothills Nurseries

    Pinus mugo is widely cultivated as an ornamental plant, for use as a small tree or shrub, planted in gardens and in larger pots and planters. It is also used in Japanese garden style landscapes, and for larger bonsai specimens.

    Cultivars

    Numerous cultivars have been selected. The cultivar Pinus mugo 'Mops' was given the Royal Horticultural Society Award of Garden Merit.

    Cultivars with seasonal changes in foliage color include Pinus mugo 'Wintergold' and Pinus mugo 'Ophir'.

    Culinary use

    A recent trend is the increase in use of the mugo pine in cooking. Buds and young cones are harvested from the wild in the spring and left to dry in the sun over the summer and into the fall. The cones and buds gradually drip syrup, which is then boiled down to a concentrate and combined with sugar to make pine syrup. Menus also use the terms "pinecone syrup" or "pine cone syrup" to refer to this ingredient.

    Invasive species

    Pinus mugo is classed as a wilding conifer, an invasive species that spreads in the high country of New Zealand, in coastal Denmark and other Scandinavian areas.

    References

    Pinus mugo Wikipedia