| Pinus armandii is related to Pinus wallichiana and differs primarily in its cones, which are broad, 4 to 8 inches long, 3 inches wide, very thick-scaled and resinous, a decorative feature in their own right, often weighing down the branches with the large, abudant cones. Needles are in five's, glossy, dark green. It is a broadly pyramidal tree in form, very graceful in its proportions. May be less hardy than a Himalayan Pine. Native to China, Burma, and Korea.
Pines are one of the most diverse groups of evergreen conifers, over 90 species are distributed throughout the Northern Hemisphere.
Although most are large trees, they can take a low growing shrub form. Pines have been very important commercially, in timber production, as well as a variety of other manufactured products such as turpentine, and rosin. They tend to be more tolerant of varying soil types and urban environments than either Picea or Abies. Pines tend to develop tap roots, so one should not attempt to transplant them from the wild. All species are grown from seed, with highly variable seed stratification requirements. They can be subject to many diseases, such as damping off, root rot, dieback, blister rust, canker, blight, scale, pine needle miner, pine weevil, bark beetles and pinewood nematode. Well situated plants should be relatively trouble free.
They suffer salt damage along highways, and can get tip burn in areas of high sulfur dioxide or ozone. |
