Khasi Pine
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| Khasi Pine | ||||||||||||||||
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| Pinus kesiya Royle ex Gordon |
The Khasi Pine (Pinus kesiya) is a pine native to the Khasi hills in the northeast Indian state of Meghalaya from where it got its name. The range extends south and east from there to northern Thailand, southernmost China, Vietnam and the Philippines. It is the dominant species of the Luzon tropical pine forests in the Philippines, where it is known as Benguet Pine.
It is a tree reaching up to 30-35 m tall with straight, cylindrical trunk. The bark is thick, dark brown, with deep longitudinal fissures. The branches are robust, red brown from the second year, the branchlets horizontal to drooping. The leaves are needle-like, dark green, usually 3 per fascicle, 15-20 cm long, the fascicle sheath 1-2 cm long and persistent. The cones are ovoid, 5-9 cm long, often curved downwards, sometimes slightly distorted; the scales of second-year cones are dense, the umbo a little convex, sometimes acutely spinous. The scales have transverse and longitudinal ridges across the middle of the scale surface. The seeds are winged, 6-7 mm long with a 1.5-2.5 cm wing. Pollination is in mid spring, with the cones maturing 18-20 months after.
Khasi Pine usually grows in pure stands or mixed with broad-leaved trees, but does not form open pine forests.
The Philippine population (Benguet Pine) is sometimes known as Pinus insularis; however, the current opinion is to treat these as conspecific with P. kesiya. The city of Baguio is nicknamed "The City of Pines", as it is noted for large stands of this tree.
[edit] References
- Conifer Specialist Group (1998). Pinus kesiya. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 05 May 2006.
