Pinus × rhaetica
Two-stemmed specimen in Trentino, Italy
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Gymnospermae
Division: Pinophyta
Class: Pinopsida
Order: Pinales
Family: Pinaceae
Genus: Pinus
Subgenus: P. subg. Pinus
Section: P. sect. Pinus
Subsection: P. subsect. Pinus
Species:
P. × rhaetica
Binomial name
Pinus × rhaetica
Distribution map
Synonyms[2]
  • Pinus × rhaetica nothosubsp. rhaetica
  • Pinus × christii (Brügger) Seiler
  • Pinus × heerii (Brügger) Seiler
  • Pinus × rhaetica nothovar. bolosii Rivas Mart., M.J.Costa & P.Soriano
  • Pinus × rhaetica nothovar. borgiae Rivas Mart., M.J.Costa & P.Soriano
  • Pinus × suevica Bertsch
  • Pinus sylvestris subsp. engadinensis (Heer) Asch. & Graebn.

Pinus × rhaetica, commonly known as Rhætic pine, the species name refers to the Rhætica alps, located in eastern Switzerland and western Austria. Rhaetic pine is described as a natural hybrid of Mountain pine (Pinus mugo) and Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris). It is a coniferous tree nothospecies located in the subsection Pinus.[3]

Description

Pinus × rhaetica has variable morphology.[3] Commonly Rhætic pines grow as trees, although some are shrubby in form. The trees are 4.5–8 m tall, 3 m broad.

Putative Pinus mugo (female) × P. sylvestris (male) hybrid. The larger tree is the hybrid, the smaller tree is a P. mugo. Morphology of Pinus × rhaetica
Morphology of a putative P. sylvestris (female) × P. mugo (male) hybrid

The trunk is gray-brown, grayer and more frequently divided into irregular plates than in Pinus mugo. The bark on major branches resembles that of P. sylvestris in being reddish brown with papery flakes, but it can also be more like P. mugo and greyish and persistent.

The leaves (needles) are 4 cm long, usually fresh or dark green like those of P. mugo, although they can be bluish green like those of P. sylvestris, depending on where along the intergrade zone the trees exist. (The images on the left perfectly demonstrate these traits)

Seed cones resemble those of P. mugo, with strongly developed apophyses on one side, and are often more robust than those of P. sylvestris. Young cones purple-brown, matt, with 3 mm long stalk. Mature cones are oval, cuspidate, 3–3.5 cm long.[4]

Distribution and habitat

The Rhætic pine (Pinus × rhaetica) occurs occasionally throughout the regions where the two species overlap, from the northern side of the French Pyrenees through the Alps to the Carpathians in Slovakia, usually at the junction of the sub-alpine habitat of P. mugo and the montane forests of P. sylvestris.[5]

The Rhætic pine has been introduced into some Baltic states, with very sparse populations present in western Lithuania.[6]

In Poland, the Rhætic pine is considered an endangered species with a high risk of extinction in nature in the near future.[7]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Farjon, Aljos (27 April 2010). A Handbook of the World's Conifers: Revised and Updated Edition. BRILL. ISBN 9789047430629.
  2. ↑ "Pinus × rhaetica nothosubsp. Rhaetica | Plants of the World Online | Kew Science".
  3. 1 2 Farjon, Aljos (2010-04-27). A Handbook of the World's Conifers: Revised and Updated Edition. BRILL. ISBN 978-90-474-3062-9.
  4. ↑ "Rētijas priede". database.smartgardens.eu. Retrieved 2022-03-27.
  5. ↑ "Pinus × rhaetica / Rhætic pine | Conifer Species". American Conifer Society. Retrieved 2022-03-27.
  6. ↑ Danusevičius, Darius; Marozas, Vitas; Brazaitis, Gediminas; Petrokas, Raimundas; Christensen, Knud Ib (2012-04-24). "Spontaneous Hybridization between Pinus mugo and Pinus sylvestris at the Lithuanian Seaside: A Morphological Survey". The Scientific World Journal. 2012: e172407. doi:10.1100/2012/172407. ISSN 2356-6140. PMC 3349116. PMID 22619615.
  7. ↑ Patejuk, Katarzyna; Baturo-Cieśniewska, Anna; Kaczmarek-Pieńczewska, Agata; Pusz, Wojciech (2021-02-18). "Mycobiota of peat-bog pine (Pinus × rhaetica) needles in the Stołowe Mountains National Park, Poland". Nova Hedwigia. 112 (1–2): 253–265. doi:10.1127/nova_hedwigia/2021/0619. S2CID 233887451.
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