Pinus ravii

R.C.Srivast. (2013)

Common names

Ravi's pine.

Taxonomic notes

Type: India, Arunachal Pradesh, Yorlung, R. C. Srivast. s.n. dated 16.11.2008 (holotype ARUN). Srivastava (2013) provides several color photographs. This is a white pine of India and presumably related to P. wallichiana. It appears to have not been investigated since its 2013 description, which as seen below is extremely brief. However, the reported length of needles and of seed cones is substantially shorter than P. wallichiana, which suggests it is in fact a different species.

Description

"Trees more than 35 m high; boles up to 30m long; blaze ash-grey. Needles 3-4 cm long Female cones up to 15 cm long;woody cone-scales broadly obovate,concave, with deciduous mucro at apices, shining brown and more compact on maturity. ... Differs from var. wallichiana [sic] in having shorter (6-13 cm long) needles; smaller (ca 10 cm) cones; smaller wings (ca 10 mm long)." This is the entire description provided by Srivastava (2013).

Distribution and Ecology

India: Arunachal Pradesh: Yorlung (after Mechuka) (Srivastava 2013). No other locations reported. Habitat not described. The species has not been evaluated by the IUCN, but Srivastava (2013) reports "The species is critically endangered as it is top choice of wood mafia due to its very long boles and superior quality of timber."

Remarkable Specimens

No information as of 2025.02.12.

Ethnobotany

As noted above, "it is top choice of wood mafia" (Srivastava 2013).

Observations

No information as of 2025.02.12.

Remarks

"The specific epithet is in honour of my son Ravi Srivastava in view of the constant moral support during my remote postings" (Srivastava 2013).

Citations

Srivastava, R. C. 2013. Notes on indigenous pines of India. Indian Journal of Plant Sciences 2(1):40-42.

See also