It is a fairly common plant in the temperate countries of Central Europe, from Austria in the west to Yugoslavia in the east. It grows on clay soils, sometimes on limestone stones in mountainous areas, preferring the southern slopes. Quite an imposing coniferous tree, the Austrian black pine looks especially good in its youth. Up to ten years old, it has a wide cone-shaped crown, on which strong branches are symmetrically located. In a fifteen-year-old tree, the crown is already sprawling, has an umbrella shape. But at any age, she is very picturesque and attracts attention.
Appearance
Evergreen beauty grows rapidly in youth, slows down with age, but still, on average, it grows 40 cm in height per year and grows 20 cm in width. Depending on the habitat conditions, the black pine has a height of 20 to 45 meters. Its bark is thick with deep cracks, covered with grayblack scales that have a beautiful decorative look.
Needles and fruits
Leaf blades in the form of needles are arranged in bunches in pairs. They are hard, tough and prickly. In length reach up to 16 centimeters. Their color is special - deep dark green, from a distance seeming black. It was he who gave the tree its name - black pine.
The needles last for a long time - 4-5 years, sometimes even 8. The fruits of this tree are cones. Light brown in color and symmetrical in shape, they are 5 to 9 centimeters long, making the pine even more beautiful with their decorative effect.
Undemanding Sun Lover
Pine is a photophilous plant, therefore it is hard to tolerate shading, it may even die. The roots of the tree are extremely strong and grow to great depths, which helps it withstand any force of the wind. Black pine is unpretentious to soils, successfully grows both on dry and wet, on acidic or poor substrates. In the Mediterranean, it grows even on dry and humus-free limestone stones. The main requirement for soils is good drainage.
Features
Black pine has a number of excellent qualities that help it adapt to any conditions. The main ones are:
- wind resistance;
- frost resistance;
- tolerates summer heat and drought well.
The tree is so undemanding that it easily tolerates air pollution and can develop in conditionsurban climate. Decorative molding available.
Use
In Western European countries, black pine has been planted in artificial forests since 1759. It is considered a promising park tree, just like the Scotch pine Fastigiata. With the help of these pyramidal pines, majestic alleys are created in recreational areas. They also make a wonderful addition to any landscape composition. Thanks to the original crown and dark green needles, these trees blend well with fir, spruce and douglas. Magnificent compositions are obtained with hardwoods. In Russia, pine has been known since 1833 and is used mainly as a rare and amazingly beautiful plant. There was also a practical application for it: it is planted to contain the sands in the south of the steppe zone of Russia.
