Pinaceae

Description

Number of genera: 12

Number of species: 200

Description (from PLANTAE): Trees, evergreen, resinous and aromatic, monoecious. Bark smooth to scaly or furrowed. Leaves needle-like or flat-linear, simple, solitary and spirally arranged on long shoots or fasciculate on short shoots. Pollen cones maturing and shed annually, solitary or clustered, axillary, ovoid to ellipsoid or cylindric; sporophylls overlapping, bearing 2 abaxial microsporangia (pollen sacs). Seed cones maturing and shed in 1--3 seasons or long-persistent, compound, axillary, solitary or grouped; scales overlapping, spirally arranged, flattened, thin or woody (in Pinus) with 2 adaxial ovules. Seeds 2 per scale, often winged.

Taxonomic notes (from PLANTAE): The Pinaceae are a distinctive family of conifers with a relatively long fossil history. The ten genera are all well defined, however there is no general consensus as to the subdivision of the family.

Distribution (from PLANTAE): Primarily Northern Hemisphere, extending south to into Central America and the West Indies also in Japan, China, Indonesia, the Himalayas, and North Africa.

Economic uses (from PLANTAE): As of 2000, 50% of Belize's 126,825 acres of pine forests were infested with the southern bark beetle (Dendroctonus frontalis), a devastating pest capable of causing total population mortality.

Floras and Monographs

Pinaceae: [Book] Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.