The umbrella pine , or umbrella pine ( Pinus pinea L.) is a tree characteristic of the Mediterranean regions, recognizable with its port evoking a deployed parasol. Its seed, the pinion, is often used in pastry making. The tree belongs to the kind Pinus and to the family of the Pinacées.

Description

Ecology and habitat

Tree pushing abundantly on the Mediterranean circumference, in the wood or the maquis, where it is often associated with the holm oak It prefers the dry grounds, but puts up very well with deep and fresh grounds. Is used it sometimes to cleanse the marshy zones or to fix the dunes. Its longevity is estimated at 250 years.

General and vegetative morphology

The trunk is often divided at the base. The tree pushes while adapting to the ground and by seeking the sun, which frequently gives trunks rather not very vertical. It seldom exceeds 30 meters, its summit is spread out in parasol. The bark, very cracked, is brown reddish with gray nuances. The sheets are needles rather not very prickly, generally joined together by two, sometimes by three.

Floral morphology

Like all the pines, it is a monoïque tree (male flowers and different females, but pushing on the same plant). The flowers male, brown orange, ovoid, are grouped at the base of the starts-up. The female flowers, yellowish green, have the pace of small solitary cones.

Fruit and seeds

The fruit, called pine cone in Gascon, is a cone which, with maturity (three years on average), is globulous, practically as broad as long (approximately 10 cm, sometimes more). The scales are round at their top. It deviate to release the seeds (pinions).

Use

The wood of the umbrella pine is light and flexible. One can use it in joinery and frame, in particular in the maritime construction industry. The pinions are used in pastry making, salad trimming, or in sauce dishes of the type mixing sweetened and salted Tajine. The pinion enters many Mediterranean receipts. It had formerly the reputation to be aphrodisiac. The Spain is the first world producer of pinions.

External bonds

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