Pinus pumila

(Pallas) Regel 1859

Common names

Кедровый стланик (kedrovy stlanik, creeping cedar) [Russian]; Сибирийн давжаа нарс [Mongol]; ハイマツ [Japanese]; 偃松 [Chinese]; 눈잣나무 [Korean]; totonup, pakushini, todotsupu, numani, nomani, or henetsukere [Ainu]; Japanese stone pine, Siberian dwarf pine.

Taxonomic notes

Syn: Pinus cembra Linnaeus var. pumila Pallas 1784; P. cembra var. pygmaea Loudon (Wu and Raven 1999).

P. × hakkodensis Makino 1931 is the natural hybrid between P. parviflora var. pentaphylla and P. pumila. Synonym: P. pentaphylla Mayr var. hakkodensis (Makino) Kusaka 1954. It occurs only in Japan. See Pinus parviflora for further discussion of this nothospecies.

P. pumila and P. sibirica naturally hybridize in the Lake Baikal region. Genetic studies in the area indicate that hybrids make both male and female contributions to the reproductive output of the population, and confirm the presence of both backcrosses and F2 hybrids (Politov et al. 1999, Petrova et al. 2008).

For discussion of systematics relative to other species in subsection Strobus, see Phylogeny of East Asian white pines.

Description

"Shrubs to 6 m tall, usually with creeping branches to 10 m; bark gray-brown, flaking; branchlets initially brown, dark red-brown in 2nd or 3rd year, densely pubescent; winter buds red-brown, conical-ovoid, slightly resinous. Needles 5 per bundle, trapeziform in cross section, 4-6(-8.3) cm × ca. 1 mm, stiff, vascular bundle 1, resin canals (1 or)2, marginal, base with sheath shed. Seed cones erect, maturing to pale purple- or red-brown, conical-ovoid or ovoid, 3-4.5 × 2.5-3 cm, indehiscent or imperfectly dehiscent at maturity. Seed scales broadly subrhombic or rhombic-obovate; apophyses broadly triangular, thick, swollen, margin slightly recurved; umbo purple-black, distinct, ending in a slightly recurved protuberance. Seeds dark brown, triangular-obovoid, 7-10 × 5-7 mm, wingless, abaxial margin ridged" (Wu and Raven 1999). See García Esteban et al. (2004) for a detailed characterization of the wood anatomy.

The pumila × sibirica hybrids are uncommon even where they occur, comprising <1% of the population. They lack erect growth habit, but the violet color of developing cones is characteristic of P. sibirica (Politov et al. 1999, Petrova et al. 2008).

Distribution and Ecology

Japan, N Korea, N Mongolia, Siberia E from Yenisey River, China: Heilongjiang, Jilin, Nei Mongol (at 1000-2300 m elevation) (Wu and Raven 1999). It is a dominant species in the alpine zone. "Introduced to Hibiny Mts. of Kolsky Peninsula. Forms broad belt just above timberline, pure or (on E coast) with alders or willows. In E and NE parts of its area and in cold intermontane valleys descends to sea level" (Vladimir Dinets e-mail 1998.01.10). Hardy to Zone 1 (cold hardiness limit below -45.6°C) (Bannister and Neuner 2001, variety not specified), which makes it one of the most cold-hardy trees known.

Remarkable Specimens

Although it never gets very tall, V. Dinets reports specimens with a crown up to 25-30 m in diameter, in Chara Valley, Transbaikalia (Vladimir Dinets e-mail 1998.01.10).

Ethnobotany

The Ainu would hunt bear using traps armed with poisoned arrows; Pinus pumila resin was used to seal the poison (extracted from Aconitum sinense) into the base of the arrow tip. The resin and the poison were both deified in recognition of their role in sustaining the Ainu hunting economy. Although they made scant use of its mainly alpine habitat, the Ainu also ate the seeds, used the wood shavings to make tea, and steeped the cones to make an infusion for treating scurvy (Williams 2017 and sources cited therein).

Observations

No data as of 2023.11.29.

Remarks

The epithet pumila means "dwarfish", referring to the growth habit.

The blister rust Peridermium kurilense, a close relative of Cronartium ribicola, afflicts P. pumila in its native habitat (Colley and Taylor 1927).

Citations

Colley, R. H. and M. W. Taylor. 1927. Peridermium kurilense Diet. on Pinus pumila Pall., and Peridermium indicum N.Sp. on Pinus excelsa Wall. Journal of Agricultural Research 34(4):327-330.

Petrova, E. A., S. N. Goroshkevich, M. M. Belokon, Y. S. Belokon, and D. V. Politov. 2008. Population genetic structure and mating system in the hybrid zone between Pinus sibirica Du Tour and P. pumila (Pall.) Regel at the eastern Baikal lake shore. Annals of Forest Research 51: 19-30.

Politov, Dmitri V., M. M. Belokon, Oleg P. Maluchenko, Yuri S. Belokon, Vladimir N. Molozhnikov, Leon E. Mejnartowicz, and Konstantin V. Krutovskii. 1999. Genetic evidence of natural hybridization between siberian stone pine, Pinus sibirica du Tour, and dwarf siberian pine, P. pumila (Pall.) Regel. Forest Genetics 6(1): 41–48.

Regel, E. A. Von. 1859. Index Semina Hortus Petropolitanus 1858. St. Petersburg (p. 23).

Williams, Dai. 2017. Ainu Ethnobiology. Tacoma, WA: Society of Ethnobiology. ISBN 978-0-9887330-7-7 (PDF). Pp. 34, 120, 179.

See also

Elwes and Henry 1906-1913 at the Biodiversity Heritage Library. This series of volumes, privately printed, provides some of the most engaging descriptions of conifers ever published. Although they only treat species cultivated in the U.K. and Ireland, and the taxonomy is a bit dated, still these accounts are thorough, treating such topics as species description, range, varieties, exceptionally old or tall specimens, remarkable trees, and cultivation. Despite being over a century old, they are generally accurate, and are illustrated with some remarkable photographs and lithographs.

Farjon 1984.

Khomentovsky, Peter A. 2003. Ecology of Siberian dwarf pine Pinus pumila (Pallas) Regel in Kamchatka. Science Publishers, Incorporated. ISBN 1578081890.

Richardson 1998.

Tikhomirov, B.A. 1949. Pinus pumila thickets: their biology and use. Moscow. ABS: A treatise on the biology, ecology and distrubution of Pinus pumila woodlands in the former Soviet Union [in Russian].

Wu and Raven 1999.

Yanagimachi, O. and H. Ohmori. 1991. Ecological status of Pinus pumila scrub and the lower boundary of the Japanese alpine zone. Arctic and Alpine Research 23:424-435.