Although by some authorities regarded as a variety of P. halepensis, this seems to be a distinct, though closely related, species. The tree is of thin, ungainly habit; its leaves (in pairs) are 4 to 6 in. long, its young shoots are green, and more flexible than in P. halepensis; finally, its cones point forwards instead of backwards, and are thicker (2 in.) at the base. It is rather lacking in attractive qualities, being thin in branch and leaf and inferior in this respect to P. halepensis. It was described by Tenore in 1811 and was said by him to occur wild in western Calabria, though it has not been rediscovered there since. Its main distribution is in Asiatic Turkey and the Near East, as far east as Kurdistan; it also occurs in the Aegean and Cyprus.

P. brutia is rare in cultivation, the only large specimen recorded being one at Kew, which measures 44 × 6 ft (1971).

This species was by some 19th-century botanists confused with P. nigra var. cebennensis under the name P. pyrenaica.

From the Supplement (Vol. V)

specimens: Kew, 42 × 61⁄4 ft (1980); National Botanic Garden, Glasnevin, Eire, 59 × 43⁄4 ft (1980).

From New Trees

Pinus brutia Ten.

(Subgen. Pinus, Sect. Pinus)

Calabrian Pine, Turkish Pine

Tree to 35 m, trunk straight and slender. Bark thin, flaky, reddish orange, becoming reddish brown, fracturing into plates separated by longitudinal fissures. Crown open and rounded. Branchlets slender, greyish brown; vegetative buds not resinous. Leaves in fascicles of two, persisting for one and a half to two and a half years, bright green or yellowish green, slender, straight and rigid, semicircular in cross-section, 10–18 × <0.1 cm, margins serrulate, apex acute; juvenile leaves glaucous, 1.5–4 cm long, and produced for up to four years; adult leaves first appearing about nine months to two years after germination. Fascicle sheaths 1–1.5 cm long, persistent. Cataphylls subulate, 0.1–0.2 cm long, light to dark brown. Male strobili 1.8 × 0.4 cm. Female cones subterminal, in whorls of three to four or rarely solitary, sessile or pedunculate; cones 5–11(–13) × 5–7 cm, mature in about 24 months, ovoid-conical, green, ripening orange-brown to red-brown in spring. Scales thick, rigid, woody; apophysis 1–1.5 × 1.5–2 cm, rhombic to pentagonal; umbo dorsal, flat or slightly raised. Seeds dark greyish brown; wings 1.5–2 × 1 cm, brown with yellowish streaks. Frankis 1993, 1999, Farjon 2005a. Distribution CYPRUS; GREECE: Crete and east Aegean islands; LEBANON; SYRIA; TURKEY. Pinus brutia is also present (though probably introduced) in Calabria – formerly Brutia – Province in southern Italy. Habitat Grows in a variety of habitats in the eastern Mediterranean, between 10 and 1500 m asl. USDA Hardiness Zone 7. Conservation status Lower Risk. Illustration Farjon 2005a; NT580. Cross-references B215, S373, K210.

There is considerable confusion regarding the infraspecific taxa of Pinus brutia. For example, Yaltirik & Boydak (2000) described var. densifolia from southern Anatolia, which had a dense, compact, spherical crown, but this feature of the habit was probably the result of environmental conditions or fungal infection (see discussion in Frankis 1999). A key to the varieties recognised by Farjon (2001) is presented below.

The cones of one form of P. brutia var. brutia, f. kruepericola Frankis, do not open widely on weathering, so trap the seeds. However, Krüper’s Nuthatch (Sitta krueperi) removes seeds from the cones and distributes them around the forest (Frankis 1992).