Pinus × rotundata

Link) Janchen et Neumayer 1942

Common names

Mountain pine.

Taxonomic notes

This is the natural hybrid of P. mugo and P. uncinata (Christensen 1987); sometimes referred to as P. mugo nothosubsp. rotundata (Link) Janchen et Neumayer 1942 or (mainly in older E European works) as P. uliginosa Neumann ex Wimmer. Additional synonyms: P. humilis Link; P. pseudopumilio (Willk.) Bech; P. obliqua Sauter (Christensen 1987).

Description

A shrub or tree to 3-15 m. Foliage as P. mugo. Cones intermediate between P. mugo and P. uncinata, ± oblique, at least near the base, with rounded and hooked apophyses on the outer side of the cone (Christensen 1987).

Distribution and Ecology

Europe: Austria, Czechia, France, Germany, Poland, Slovakia, and Switzerland. Found throughout most of the Alps and northern Carpathians from France to Slovakia; there are also small isolated populations in the Pyrenees and Massif Central, but the species is absent from the Balkans and southern Carpathians (Christensen 1987). It occurs at elevations of 1,000 to 2,300 m, and also in peat bog habitats as low as 200 m in the northeast portion of its range (Christensen 1987).

Distributions of P. mugo, P. uncinata and their nothospecies P. × rotundata. P. mugo are classified as "P. mugo s.s." which are specimens synonymous with P. mugo subsp. mugo; and "P. mugo s.l." which are specimens that could be assignable to either P. mugo subsp. mugo or P. mugo subsp. uncinata. Due to the large number of records (over 50,000) data have been subsampled to 0.1 degree spatial resolution. Source, GBIF.org (2021.11.12) GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.348a34.

Remarkable Specimens

Ethnobotany

Observations

Remarks

Forms extensive hybrid introgression zones with no apparent barriers to hybridization, which argues for the conspecificity of the parent taxa. Its occurrence in some areas beyond the range of one or the other of the parent subspecies (or even both) could be due to either long-distance pollen drift, and/or to the presence of both parents in purer forms at earlier times.

Citations

Businský, R. 1998. Pinus mugo agg. in former Czechoslovakia - taxonomy, distribution, hybrid populations and endangering. Zprávy Ces. Bot. Spolec. Praha 33: 29-52. [in Czech; English summary].

Christensen, K.I. 1987. Taxonomic revision of the Pinus mugo complex and P. × rhaetica (P. mugo × sylvestris) (Pinaceae). Nordic J. Botany 7: 383-408.

Janchen, E. and H. Neumayer. 1942. Oesterreichische Botanische Zeitschrift 91:214.

See also

The species account at Threatened Conifers of the World.