Pinus pumilio Seeds | Mugo Pine
LATIN NAME: Pinus pumilio
COMMON NAME: Mugo Pine
Plant Profile
Mugo pine, in the dwarf form sold as Pinus pumilio, is the conifer that makes a young garden look as though it has been there for decades. It is a slow, dense, rounded bush, one to three metres after many years, with pairs of stiff dark needles about five centimetres long and a mass of short, upright candles each spring. The habit is naturally broad and low, often wider than tall, and old specimens develop a gnarled, exposed trunk that is the reason the plant is used for bonsai and rock gardens. Cones are small, symmetrical and sessile, held against the wood. It comes from the mountains of central Europe, the Alps, the Balkans and the Carpathians, where it grows above the treeline on limestone and scree. The name has been badly muddled in the trade: this is the dwarf variety of Pinus mugo, not the Siberian dwarf pine Pinus pumila, which is a different species with a different cone and a different range.
Science & Biotechnology
Pinus mugo var. pumilio is a taxon of hybrid and cultivar confusion. The dwarf, creeping populations of the Alps and Balkans are treated variously as a variety of P. mugo, as P. mugo subsp. pumilio, or as a set of cultivars selected for habit, and the seed sold under the name is often of mixed garden origin rather than a wild provenance. The species is a pioneer of harsh ground: it tolerates limestone, wind, snow load and grazing, and it spreads by layering where lower branches touch soil. Its needles live for five to eight years, longer than most pines, which is why the bush stays dense. It is a two-needle pine, 2n = 24, and it hybridises freely with P. sylvestris and P. uncinata where their ranges overlap, so seed from garden plants can be of uncertain parentage. The dwarf habit is not a single gene, and seedlings vary.
Uses & Benefits
It is an ornamental above all: rock gardens, scree beds, containers, embankments and bonsai, where the short needles and the willingness to back-bud make it one of the few pines that can be shaped tightly. It holds slopes and stabilises scree in alpine restoration, and it is planted as windbreak on exposed upland sites. The timber is small and knotty and of no commercial value, though it is used locally for fuel. The needles yield an essential oil used in central European folk medicine for baths and chest rubs, and the young shoots have gone into cough syrups, but the medicinal standing belongs to the genus rather than to this variety. Seed is also eaten by birds and small mammals in the mountains. It is a plant for a patient gardener with a small space.
Growing from Seed
Sow in late winter after six to eight weeks of cold, moist stratification; germination is uneven and can continue for two months at 18 to 22 degrees. Use a gritty, lime-tolerant mix with good drainage, and keep the seedlings in full sun. Damping off is the main risk, so water from below and give air. The seedlings are slow, five to ten centimetres in the first year, and they should be potted on every second season rather than every year. Plant out at fifteen to twenty-five centimetres, in full sun and sharp drainage, preferably on a slope or a raised bed. Do not enrich the soil. If you want a single-stemmed specimen rather than a bush, remove competing leaders early, because the plant’s default is to become a mound.
Our Take
A slow, long-lived mound for rock gardens and pots, with short needles that make it trainable. Give it sun, grit and time, and do not confuse it with the Siberian pine.
Related Reading
Gardeners who grow Mugo Pine often pair it with these related subjects: