Pinus latteri

Mason 1849

Common names

Thông nhựa, thông ta, thông hai lá, thông Tenasserim [Vietnamese]; 南亚松 nan ya song [Chinese]; Tenasserim pine. The Tenasserim Mountains, where the species was first described, are in southern Myanmar.

Tenasserim pine.

Taxonomic notes

Syn: P. ikedai Yamam.; P. tonkinensis A. Chev.; P. merkusii var. tonkinensis (A. Chev.) Gaussen ex N.-S. Bui; P. merkusii var. latteri (Mason) Silba; P. merkusii subsp. latteri (Mason) D. Z. Li; P. merkusiana Cooling & Gaussen, nom. inval.. It was formerly treated as synonymous with P. merkusii Jungh. et De Vriese, but now treated as a distinct species (Farjon 1998). The two taxa have very similar appearance, but P. latteri seedlings have a grass stage and it occupies a different distribution within somewhat different habitat; as such it could reasonably be called either a sister species or a subspecies of P. merkusii, but is evidently not synonymous. Molecular studies would help to elucidate the relationship between taxa.

Description

A tree, 30-45(65) m tall with and open crown and level to upcurved branches, the crown changing from conical to rounded as the tree ages. Bark rough, gray-brown, deeply fissured, forming small rounded plates on the lower part of the trunk; thin and flaky in upper crown. Branches mostly uninodal. Leaves 2 per fascicle, 19-27 cm long, moderately slender, rigid, sheaths persistent; dried leaves 100-200 mg per fascicle (c.f. under 90 mg in P. merkusii). Cones singly or in pairs with short stalks, 6.5-13 cm long, elongate conic with a rounded base before opening, green ripening glossy orange-brown. Cone scales large with a flat apophysis and a prominent transverse keel; seeds medium-small, 10 mm, with a long wing. The seedlings show a grass stage (Cooling and Gaussen 1970, Farjon 1984, de Laubenfels 1988). See García Esteban et al. (2004) for a detailed characterization of the wood anatomy.

Distribution and Ecology

Viet Nam, Laos, Kampuchea, Thailand and southern Myanmar; also in extreme S China (Hainan Island), but possibly introduced there. It is found from sea level to 900 m (mostly at lower altitudes than the sympatric P. kesiya but with some overlap), usually in open, savannah-like areas that are frequently burned by native peoples (de Laubenfels 1988). USDA hardiness zone 9-10.

Remarkable Specimens

Ethnobotany

Planted trees are tapped for resin (Farjon 1984).

Observations

Remarks

Named for Captain Latter, regional Superintendent of Forests and thought to be the first Englishman to see the tree in habitat (Mason 1849).

Citations

Cooling, E.N.G. and H. Gaussen. 1970. In Indochina Pinus merkusiana sp. nov. et non P. merkusii Jungh. et De Vriese. Trav. Lab. Forest. Toulouse T. 1 V. 8 Art. 7.

Frankis, M.P. 1993. Morphology and affinities of Pinus brutia. Pp. 11-18 in O. Tashkin (ed.) Papers Internatl. Sympos. Pinus brutia. Marmaris / Ankara.

Mason, F. 1849. The pine tree of the Tenasserim provinces. J. Asiat. Soc. Bengal Sci. 5(18):73-75. Available on Google Books.

See also

The species account at Threatened Conifers of the World.

Hiep et al. 2004.