''Pinus canariensis'', the Canary Island pine, is a species of

gymnosperm The gymnosperms ( lit. revealed seeds) are a group of seed-producing plants that includes conifers, cycads, '' Ginkgo'', and gnetophytes, forming the clade Gymnospermae. The term ''gymnosperm'' comes from the composite word in el, γυμν ...

in the

conifer Conifers are a group of cone-bearing seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a single extant class, Pinopsida. All ext ...

family

Pinaceae The Pinaceae, or pine family, are conifer trees or shrubs, including many of the well-known conifers of commercial importance such as cedars, firs, hemlocks, larches, pines and spruces. The family is included in the order Pinales, formerly kn ...

. It is a large,

evergreen In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has foliage that remains green and functional through more than one growing season. This also pertains to plants that retain their foliage only in warm climates, and contrasts with deciduous plants, whic ...

tree, native and

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...

to the outer

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; es, :es:Canarias, Canarias, ), also known informally as the Canaries, are a Spanish Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community and archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, in Macaronesia. At their closest point to ...

of the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

Description

''Pinus canariensis'' is a large

tree, growing to tall and

diameter at breast height Diameter at breast height, or DBH, is a standard method of expressing the diameter of the trunk or bole of a standing tree. DBH is one of the most common dendrometric measurements. Tree trunks are measured at the height of an adult's breast ...

, exceptionally up to tall and diameter. The green to yellow-green

leaves A leaf ( : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, st ...

are needle-like, in bundles of three, long, with finely toothed margins and often drooping. A characteristic of the species is the occurrence of glaucous (bluish-green)

epicormic shoot An epicormic shoot is a shoot growing from an epicormic bud, which lies underneath the bark of a trunk, stem, or branch of a plant. Epicormic buds lie dormant beneath the bark, their growth suppressed by hormones from active shoots higher up t ...

s growing from the lower trunk, but in its natural area this only occurs as a consequence of fire or other damage. The

cones A cone is a three-dimensional geometric shape that tapers smoothly from a flat base (frequently, though not necessarily, circular) to a point called the apex or vertex. A cone is formed by a set of line segments, half-lines, or lines conn ...

are long, wide, glossy chestnut-brown in colour and frequently remaining closed for several years (serotinous cones). Its closest relatives are the

chir pine ''Pinus roxburghii'', commonly known as chir pine or longleaf Indian pine, is a species of pine tree native to the Himalayas. It was named after William Roxburgh. Description ''Pinus roxburghii'' is a large tree reaching with a trunk diameter ...

(''P. roxburghii'') from the

Himalayas The Himalayas, or Himalaya (; ; ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the planet's highest peaks, including the very highest, Mount Everest. Over 10 ...

, the Mediterranean pines '' P. pinea'', '' P. halepensis'', '' P. pinaster'' and '' P. brutia'' from the eastern

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on ...

Taxonomy

''Pinus canariensis'' was first described in 1825 by

Augustin Pyramus de Candolle Augustin Pyramus (or Pyrame) de Candolle (, , ; 4 February 17789 September 1841) was a Swiss botanist. René Louiche Desfontaines launched de Candolle's botanical career by recommending him at a herbarium. Within a couple of years de Candoll ...

, who attributed the name to

Christen Smith Christen Smith (17 October 1785 – 22 September 1816) was an early 19th-century Norwegian physician, economist and naturalist, particularly botanist. He died, only 30 years old during a dramatic expedition to the Congo River in 1816, leaving a ...

. It has been placed in subsection ''Pinaster'' of subgenus ''Pinus'', section ''Pinus''. The other species in the subsection are mainly Mediterranean in distribution, with one species ('' P. roxburghii'') from the Himalayas.

Distribution and habitat

The species is native and

to the outer

(

Gran Canaria Gran Canaria (, ; ), also Grand Canary Island, is the third-largest and second-most-populous island of the Canary Islands, an archipelago off the Atlantic coast of Northwest Africa which is part of Spain. the island had a population of that ...

Tenerife Tenerife (; ; formerly spelled ''Teneriffe'') is the largest and most populous island of the Canary Islands. It is home to 43% of the total population of the Archipelago, archipelago. With a land area of and a population of 978,100 inhabitant ...

El Hierro El Hierro, nicknamed ''Isla del Meridiano'' (the "Meridian Island"), is the second-smallest and farthest-south and -west of the Canary Islands (an autonomous community of Spain), in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Africa, with a populatio ...

and

La Palma La Palma (, ), also known as ''La isla bonita'' () and officially San Miguel de La Palma, is the most north-westerly island of the Canary Islands, Spain. La Palma has an area of making it the fifth largest of the eight main Canary Islands. The ...

). It is a subtropical pine and does not tolerate low temperatures or hard frost, surviving temperatures down to about . Within its natural area, it grows under extremely variable rainfall regimes, from less than to several thousands, mostly due to differences in mist-capturing by the foliage. Under warm conditions, this is one of the most

drought-tolerant Drought tolerance is the ability to which a plant maintains its biomass production during arid or drought conditions. Some plants are naturally adapted to dry conditions'','' surviving with protection mechanisms such as desiccation tolerance, detox ...

pines, living even with less than of rainfall per year. The native range has been somewhat reduced due to over-cutting so that only the islands of Tenerife, La Palma and Gran Canaria still have large forests. Really big trees are still rare due to past over-cutting. It is the tallest tree in the Canary Islands.

Fossil record

Fossils of ''Pinus canariensis'' have been described from the fossil flora of Kızılcahamam district in

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula ...

which is of early

Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.333 million to 2.58fire-resistant conifers in the world, due to several beneficial adaptations.

Uses

The tree's extremely long needles make a significant contribution to the islands' water supply, trapping large amounts of condensation from the moist air coming off the Atlantic with the prevailing north eastern wind (locally called "alisios"). The condensation then drops to the ground and is quickly absorbed by the soil, eventually percolating down to the underground aquifers. The aromatic

wood Wood is a porous and fibrous structural tissue found in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulose fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin ...

, especially the

heartwood Wood is a porous and fibrous structural tissue found in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulose fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin t ...

, is among the finest of pine woods, being hard, strong and durable. In mainland

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

, it has become a naturalized species from original landscape uses. ''Pinus canariensis'' is a popular

ornamental tree Ornamental plants or garden plants are plants that are primarily grown for their beauty but also for qualities such as scent or how they shape physical space. Many flowering plants and garden varieties tend to be specially bred cultivars that ...

in warmer climates, such as in private gardens, public landscapes, and as street trees in

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

In culture

It is the vegetable symbol of the island of

Gallery

File:Pinus canariensis forest Caldera de Taburiente 3.jpg, In natural habitat on Canary Islands Image:CanaryIslandPine02MelbourneBotanicGardens.jpg, Trunk Image:pincan01.jpg, Epicormic shoots Image:Pinus canariensis (male) in Presa de las Niñas 02 (cropped).jpg, A cluster of mature male cones of a ''Pinus canariensis'' in

File:Pinus canariensis.jpg, Mature opened female cone Image:pincan21a.jpg, Figure on timber Image:Pinus canariensis PICT3077.jpg, Fire-resistant trunk File:Kanarische Kiefer bei Vilaflor, Teneriffa.jpg, Vilaflor, Tenerife Image:Pinus canariensis PICT3076.jpg, Tenerife south File:Pinus canariensis (Santa Cruz) 01 ies.jpg, ''Pinus canariensis'', Santa Cruz File:Pinus canariensis forest La Palma.jpg, ''Pinus canariensis'' forest, La Palma File:Pinus canariensis Caldera de Taburiente 1.jpg, ''Pinus canariensis'' Caldera de Taburiente File:Snow in Tenerife.jpg, Tenerife File:Gran canaria llanos de la pez roque nublo teide.jpg, Gran Canaria File:Young cone.JPG, Male cones of ''Pinus canariensis'' photographed in Temecula, CA, USA File:Pinus canariensis - Gran Canaria.jpg, Ayacata, San Bartolomé de Tirajana, Gran Canaria, Canary Islands, Spain. File:Pinus canariensis kz15.jpg, seedling in La Talleta, Tenerife, Canary Islands

References

External links

University of Murcia: Tenerife Island, Canarias, Spain: ''Pinus canariensis''
* ttp://www.plantsciences.ucdavis.edu/courses/enh6/Week7/pinucana.html University of California: Davis ''Pinus canariensis'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Pinus Canariensis canariensis Endemic flora of the Canary Islands Endemic flora of Macaronesia Ornamental trees Trees of Mediterranean climate Trees of mild maritime climate Drought-tolerant trees Garden plants of Europe Least concern plants