Pinus pinaster Aiton
Eng.: Cluster pine, maritime pine. Spa.: Pino negral, pino rodeno, pino resinero. Fre.: Pin maritime, pin de corte, pin mésogéen. Ara.: Senuber, snuber. Tam.: Taïda.
Evergreen tree, monoecious, 20-30 m in height (up to 40 m), irregular shape in older trees, with the crown at the top half of the tree. Young trees pyramidal. Trunk up to 1.5 m in diameter, straight, with thick bark reddish-brown, blackish in the outer layers, highly fissured in ancient specimens. Branchlets light brown, chestnut colour, sometimes reddish-brown. Branches in whorls almost perpendicularly to the trunk, lowest branches somehow sloping, upper branches generally bending upwards. Leaves acicular, semirigid, thick and long (10-27 cm × 0.2-0.25), dark green. Born in fascicles of 2, basally wrapped by a membranous sheath. Male cones are born grouped at the end of the branchlet, longly ovoid (1-3 × 0.4-0.6 cm), orange. Female cones in whorls of 2 to 3, ovate (2-2.5 cm), reddish. Strobili sessile or subsessile, ovate-conical in shape and often curved (8-22 × 5-8 cm). Scales with robust apophysis, very prominent, pyramidal. Each with two seeds (7-9 mm) which are small compared to its wing that is usually 4 times larger.
Flowering:
March to May.
Fruiting:
August to October of the following year, but the cone does not open for seed dispersal until the spring of the third year.
Habitat:
Although in principle this species can grow from sea level to 2,200 m in altitude, the first references to it in Morocco (XIX and early XX centuries) always place it in high mountain. Ombryotype from subhumid to humid. Although it can grow well in calcareous soils (western Rif, High Atlas), it develops better on siliceous soils.
Distribution:
Its range is limited to the western Mediterranean. In North Africa it is quite rare in Tunisia (restricted to Tabarka —Kroumiría—) and Algeria (central-eastern Kabylia). In Morocco it is more widespread (central-western Rif —where it forms good forests—, eastern Middle Atlas and eastern Upper Atlas).
Observations:
In the study area, two subspecies have been cited: P. pinaster subsp. escarena (Risso) K. Richt. [P. pinaster subsp. hamiltonii (Ten.) Villar], from Morocco and Algeria, characterised mainly because the leaf has 4-9 resin channels in the basal part, and P. pinaster subsp. renoui (Villar) Maire, from Algeria and Tunisia, which differs from the former by having only 2 resin channels. In addition, with a great controversy, several native and non-native subspecies have been planted throughout the Maghreb
Conservation status:
Very common and widely distributed species but subsp. renoui despite being locally common presents a very small distribution area. In IUCN Red List of Threatened Species the subsp. renoui is listed at a global level as Endangered (EN) (Farjon 2013).