Pinus pumila
Pinus pumila, the Siberian dwarf pine, dwarf Siberian pine, dwarf stone pine, Japanese stone pine, or creeping pine, is a tree in the family Pinaceae native to northeastern Asia and the Japanese isles. It shares the common name creeping pine with several other plants.
Description
The Siberian dwarf pine is a coniferous evergreen shrub ranging from in height, exceptionally up to, but may have individual branches that extend further along the ground in length. In the mountains of northern Japan, it sometimes hybridizes with the related Japanese white pine ; these hybrids are larger than P. pumila, reaching tall on occasion.The leaves are needle-like, formed in bundles of five and are 4–6 centimeters long. The cones are 2.5–4.5cm long, with large nut-like seeds.
Distribution
The range covers the Far East, Eastern Siberia, north-east of Mongolia, north-east of China, northern Japan and Korea. Siberian dwarf pine can be found along mountain chains, above the tree line, where it forms dense, uninterrupted thickets; it also grows on the headlands above the Okhotsk and Bering Seas, Tatarsk and Pacific coast.P. pumila grows very slowly. It can live up to 300 and, in some instances, 1,000 years.
Ecology
The seeds are harvested and dispersed by the spotted nutcracker.P. pumila has highly flammable needles, branches, and cones and readily carries crown fires, especially where it grows continuously across local landscapes. It has serotinous cones that release seeds following fire facilitating its recovery following severe fires caused by lightning strikes and other causes.