Pinus massoniana


Pinus massoniana is a species of pine, native to Taiwan, and a wide area of central and southern China, including Hong Kong, and northern Vietnam, growing at low to moderate altitudes, mostly below 1,500 m but rarely up to 2,000 m altitude.

Description

It is an evergreen tree reaching in height, with a broad, rounded crown of long branches. The bark is thick, greyish-brown, and scaly plated at the base of the trunk, and orange-red, thin, and flaking higher on the trunk. The leaves are needle-like, dark green, with two per fascicle, long and wide, the persistent fascicle sheath long. The cones are ovoid, long, chestnut-brown, opening when mature in late winter to broad. The seeds are winged, long with a wing. Pollination is in mid spring, with the cones maturing 18–20 months after.

Ecology

In the 1970s and 80s, the Pinewood nematode from North America and pine-needle scale insect from Taiwan, together virtually eliminated the native Pinus massoniana in Hong Kong.

Fossil record

A fossil seed cone and several needles of Pinus massoniana have been described from the upper Miocene Wenshan flora, Yunnan Province, SW China. The fossils most resemble the variety P. massoniana var. hainanensis, which is a tropical montane thermophilic tree restricted to Hainan Island in southern China.

Uses

The species is a common tree used in plantation forestry for replacing or compensating for the loss of the natural forest in southern China. Chinese rosin is obtained mainly from the turpentine of this pine and slash pine.
Logs are mainly used to make pulp for paper industry.
Leaves are used to give special smoke flavor to a local black tea, such as Lapsang souchong of Fujian province.

Culture