Spotlight on Scots Pine
An Giúis
Pinus sylvestris
Mature trees can grow quite tall – up to 30 metres and can live for more than 150 years. It has a straight trunk and a rounded crown of long green needles. Its bark is bright orange/red, and its leaves are in pairs, two-needled. Pinus sylvestris is the scientific name for the Scots Pine.
Where to find Scots Pine?
It was once abundant in ancient Irish woodlands, especially on high ground and on less fertile soil. It has been planted on marginal land where other species of trees would not survive.
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Look at the needles
Scots Pine needles grow in pairs. They're usually around 4–7 cm long and are green with a distinctive blue-grey appearance.
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Look at the flowers
The tree has both male and female flowers, which are wind-pollinated, so there are no petals to attract insects. The female flowers are at the tips of the shoots, while the male flowers, which contain the pollen, are further down the shoots.
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Look for cones
Young cones are green and closed. As they mature, they become brown and woody before opening to release their winged seeds.
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Look at the bark
One of the easiest clues on an older Scots Pine is its striking orange-red bark, particularly towards the upper part of the tree.
Recent News about Scots Pine in Ireland
Research by botanists from Trinity College Dublin in recent years suggests that the original native Scots pine has been thriving in County Clare for thousands of years and never quite vanished from Ireland.
Scots pine was one of the first trees to colonise Ireland after the ice sheets of the last glaciation finally melted,
some 12,000 years ago. Despite its initial abundance, it gradually declined and disappeared from
most parts of the country about 4,000 years ago. This widespread former abundance of pine is
clearly evident from the pine stumps often exposed through turf cutting.
Scots pine lingered on in a few locations for a further 2,000 years, but was presumed to have disappeared
completely until it was reintroduced from Scotland in the 17th century through planting.
However, a research team led by Professor Fraser Mitchell, of the Quaternary Ecology department at
Trinity’s School of Natural Sciences has indicated that the tree never died out in Co. Clare.
“We analysed pollen grains preserved in lake sediments to look into the natural history of this species, and those grains revealed its continual presence over the years at a location in east Clare”.