Stone pine seed
LATIN NAME: Pinus pinea
COMMON NAME: Stone Pine
The stone pine is the wide, flat-topped umbrella pine of the Mediterranean coasts. The broad, handsome, evergreen tree carries the long, flexible, dark-green needles in pairs, and the round, glossy, brown cones hold the large, pale, edible kernels that are the pine nuts of the kitchen. The flat, umbrella-shaped crown is one of the great silhouettes of the Mediterranean, and the tree has been planted and prized for the nuts for thousands of years. It is a tree of the open, sunny, well-drained ground.
Scientific Research & Plant Biotechnology
The stone pine has carved a quiet but solid place in the plant science, and the tree has been studied for the round, glossy cones and the large, pale kernels within. Researchers have looked at the way the tree has been cultivated for the edible seeds for thousands of years, and it keeps showing up in the work on the nut crops, the pines and the trees of the Mediterranean. The flat, umbrella-shaped crown and the long, flexible needles have also made it a handsome garden tree, and the stone pine is a regular subject of the studies of the old cultivated trees of the warm coasts.
Ecological & Economic Value & Wide Applications
The stone pine does a lot of work in the garden and the kitchen. The large, pale kernels are the pine nuts of the kitchen, prized for the fine, buttery taste in the pesto, the cakes and the salads, and the tree has been planted for the nuts for thousands of years. The broad, flat-topped crown is a fine, bold silhouette for the large garden, the avenue and the coastal ground, and the evergreen needles keep it handsome through the year. It has drawn attention in the international culinary and the horticultural press for the pine nuts and the umbrella crown, and it is a fine, long-lived tree of the open, sunny, well-drained garden.
The stone pine is one of the great trees of the Mediterranean, and the flat, umbrella-shaped crown is the fine silhouette of the old coasts. The round, glossy cones take their time to ripen, and the large, pale kernels within are the pine nuts of the kitchen, gathered, shelled and prized for the fine, buttery taste for thousands of years.
To grow the stone pine from seed, soak the large seeds in warm water overnight, then sow them at a depth of about a centimetre in pots of moist, free-draining soil, covering them thinly, keep them in a bright, open spot and water gently. The seedlings come up within a few weeks and grow on steadily. Give them the sun and the well-drained ground, and the flat-topped, umbrella crown will build up over the years.
Common name：Pinus pinea
The Stone Pine can exceed 25 m height, though is usually rather less tall, 12-20 m being more normal. As a juvenile tree it is a globe shape, slowly developing a characteristic umbrella-like shape, with a short trunk and very broad, smoothly rounded to nearly flat crown. The bark is thick, red-brown and deeply fissured into broad vertical plates. The flexible mid-green leaves are needle-like, in bundles of two, and are 10-20 cm long (exceptionally up to 30 cm). Young trees bear juvenile leaves, which are very different, single (not paired), 2-4 cm long, glaucous blue-green; the adult leaves appear mixed with juvenile leaves from the second or third year on, eventually replacing them fully. Juvenile leaves are also produced in re-growth following injury, such as a broken shoot, on older trees.