Seeds wingless. Cones indehiscent, deciduous at maturity.
In this group of species there is no segregation of sclerenchyma into an effective tissue. The cones are inert under hygrometric changes and may always be recognized in herbaria by their persistent occlusion and soft tissues. The seeds are released only by the disintegration of the fallen cone. There is, however, a vicarious dissemination by predatory crows (genus Nucifraga) and rodents.
| Leaves serrulate, their stomata ventral only. | |
| Cones relatively larger, the apophyses protuberant | 1. koraiensis. |
| Cones relatively smaller, the apophyses appressed | 2. cembra. |
| Leaves entire, their stomata ventral and dorsal | 3. albicaulis. |
1. PINUS KORAIENSIS
- 1784 P. strobus Thunberg, Fl. Jap. 275 (not Linnaeus).
- 1842 P. koraiensis Siebold & Zuccarini, Fl. Jap. ii. 38.
- 1857 P. mandschurica Ruprecht in Bull. Acad. Sci. St. Pétersb. xv. 382.
Spring-shoots more or less densely tomentose. Leaves from 8 to 12 cm. long, serrulate, stomata ventral only, resin-ducts medial and confined to the angles. Conelets large, subterminal, or on young trees often pseudolateral. Cones indehiscent, from 9 to 14 cm. long, short-pedunculate, ovoid-conical or subcylindrical; apophyses dull pale nut-brown, rugose, shrinking much in drying and exposing the seeds, prolonged and tapering to a more or less reflexed tip, the umbo inconspicuous; seeds large, wingless, the spermoderm entire.
A species of the mountains of northeastern Asia with valuable wood and large edible nuts; hardy and often cultivated in cool-temperate climates.
The P. koraiensis of Beissner (in Nuov. Giorn. Bot. Ital. n. ser. iv. 184) and of Masters (in Gard. Chron. ser. 3, xxxiii. 34, ff.) are P. Armandi and have led to an erroneous extension of the range of this species into Shensi and Hupeh. In the original description of the species the authors call attention to an error in the plate, where a cone of another species has been substituted.
P. koraiensis resembles P. cembra in leaf and branchlet but not in the cone. It is often confused with P. Armandi, but can easily be distinguished by its tomentose branchlets, indehiscent cone and peculiar seed. The two species, moreover, do not always agree in the position of the foliar resin-ducts.