Photo collection - Chinese white pine

Also known as Armand's pine, it is native to western China.

This picture was taken at the nearby botanical gardens. Chinese white pine (Pinus armandii) is a rare species of tree to find in North America. Like all white pines, it has many needles per bundle, in this case 5. In Chinese it is known as "Mount Hua pine" 华山松 (hua shan song). This pine puts a lot of effort into cone and seed production, and the cones are definitely a showy aspect of the tree. About the length of an Eastern white pine cone but substantially thicker, its scales are loaded with heavy, rounded seeds.

The latin name for the tree comes from a French missionary, Armand David who introduced it to Europe after bringing back seeds from China. In Chinese culture, this tree and pines in general are a symbol of longetivity. Ancient followers of Taoism ingested the tree's resin as a medicinal product thought to lengthen lifespan. Indeed, pine resin contains varying quantities of terpenes such as pinene, terpineol, camphene and many others. These compounds occur in many plants beyond just pine trees, and their medical applications are still poorly understood.

The first thing that caught my eye on this tree were the green or immature cones. As it's just ready to fall off the tree but before the scales open is usually the best time to collect the cone for seeds. This might be a bit early, but it looks interesting nonetheless. If I had to make a comparison to something, I'd say this looks like the egg of a dragon from Chinese mythology!

Hope you enjoy these photos of a somewhat rare but elegant tree.

All photos are taken by me and declared public domain (CC0).