Pinus caribaea (PROSEA)
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Introduction |
Pinus caribaea Morelet
- Protologue: Rev. Hort. Côte d'Or 1: 107 (1851).
Vernacular names
- Caribbean pine, pitch pine, Nicaragua pine (En).
Distribution
Central America, Cuba and the Bahama Islands; planted throughout the tropics, e.g. in Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines.
Uses
The comparatively low density of the wood limits the uses as a timber. The timber is most often used for light construction, light flooring, fruit boxes and toys. The woodpulp is used for the manufacture of paper, fibreboard and chipboard. The trees produce a good quality of oleoresin.
Observations
- A large tree up to 45 m tall, but in plantations usually much smaller, with a straight and cylindrical bole, deeply fissured bark, and orange-brown twigs later turning grey-brown.
- Needles in bundles of (2-)3(-5), 15-25 cm long, in whorls at the end of the shoots and soon shed, most of them in the second year.
- Cones solitary, ovoid, 4-14 cm long, readily shed from the branches.
Caribbean pine is often divided into 3 varieties: var. hondurensis Barrett & Golfari (Honduras pine) is most commonly planted in South-East Asia, var. caribaea and var. bahamensis Barrett & Golfari much less so. The latter variety is reported to have some tolerance to shoot moth attack. P. caribaea has often been mistaken for P. elliottii in the past. In Malesia it often does not produce seeds. See also the table on wood properties.
Selected sources
68, 153, 156, 157, 163, 224, 225, 288, 295, 359, 393, 417, 471, 488, 546, 764.
Main genus page
Authors
- M.S.M. Sosef (selection of species)
