Pinus oocarpa (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Pinus oocarpa Schiede ex Schlechtendal

Protologue: Linnaea 12: 491 (1838).

Distribution

Central America from Mexico towards Nicaragua; planted in Borneo, Peninsular Malaysia and the Philippines.

Uses

The wood is used as a general-purpose timber and for pulp. P. oocarpa is planted to shade out alang-alang grass.

Observations

• A medium-sized tree up to 20(-30) m tall with a usually straight and cylindrical bole, a wide and open crown, rough and scaly bark, and long, flexible branches, curved upwards.
• Needles in bundles of (3-)4-5, 20-30 cm long, bluish or light green.
• Cones often in groups of 2-3, usually ovoid, 5-7 cm × 3-5 cm, with hard scales which are tuberculose at apex and have a pointed umbo.

P. oocarpa is a variable species; 5 well-distinguished varieties can be recognized. In South-East Asia plantation-grown trees often do not produce viable seed, and since propagation is through seeds these must be obtained elsewhere.

Selected sources

157, 163, 216, 224, 288, 291, 294, 295, 487, 488, 764.

Main genus page

• Pinus (Timbers)

Authors

• M.S.M. Sosef (selection of species)