Name

Pinus wallichiana A.B.Jacks., Bull. Misc. Inform. Kew 1938, 85 (1938).
[Himalayan white pine, Blue pine, Bhutan pine]

Description

Habit: Usually a tall tree to 50 m or more, conic when young, becoming broader and more rounded with age, upper branches ascending, lower horizontal, branches often retained to the base. Leaves in tufts near the ends of branchlets.

Bark: Greyish brown, thin, smooth and resinous in young trees, thick and rough with age, dividing into large irregularly shaped scaly plates.

Foliage: Needles in 5s, 8-20 cm long, 0.8-1mm wide, slender, sharp-pointed, often kinked, sometimes ribbed or twisted, lines of stomata on inner sides, variable from dark grey-green to blue-green, persisting for 3-4 years.

Branchlets: Young shoots usually with a glaucous bloom, smooth, hairless, and ribbed, becoming pale grey-green (drying red-brown).

Winter buds: Ovoid-cylindric, pointed, c. 6-15 mm long, slightly resinous, with red-brown, lanceolate scales, sometimes free at tips.

Cones: Solitary or grouped, erect at first, later pendulous, bluish green at first, becoming light brown when mature, on stalks 2.5-4 cm long, narrow-cylindrical, straight or curved, 10-30 cm long, 5-9 cm wide when open. Scales wedge-shaped, upper part longitudinally grooved, with a blunt, thickened, shiny apex, very resinous, (margins tending to be smothered in white or yellowish clots of resin). Basal scales usually not, but sometimes slightly, reflexed.

Seeds: Ovoid, 7-10 mm long, dark brown, wing 15-25 mm long, straight on one side, rounded and obliquely notched on the other.

Notes

Closely allied to P. peuce. Distinguished from other 5-needled pines by hairless and glaucous young shoots, drooping grey-green foliage and smooth cones often in conspicuous banana-like bunches before maturity, with basal scales usually not reflexed. Two varieties recognised.

Natural Distribution

Afghanistan, NE India, Tibet, China.