Pinus mugo
Common name
mountain pine
Family
Pinaceae
Flora category
Vascular – Exotic
Structural class
Trees & Shrubs - Gymnosperms
NVS code
The National Vegetation Survey (NVS) Databank is a physical archive and electronic databank containing records of over 94,000 vegetation survey plots - including data from over 19,000 permanent plots. NVS maintains a standard set of species code abbreviations that correspond to standard scientific plant names from the Ngä Tipu o Aotearoa - New Zealand Plants database.
PINMUG
Conservation status
Not applicable
Habitat
Terrestrial.
Features
Small tree or multi-stemmed shrub. Foliage often dense, tending to be directed forward. Leaves in fascicles of two, 3-7 cm by 1-1.5 mm, dark green rigid, more or less curved but not twisted. Male cones less than 1 cm long, broad-cylindric. Female cones shortly stalked, erect, not persisting long after maturity, 2.5-5.5 by 2.5-5 cm when open, ovoid or conic-ovoid, dark brown, symmetric. Seed wing oblong, approximately 1 cm long.
Similar taxa
Short needles in pairs, small symmetrical cones with no spike. No stalk on the cone (cf P. sylvestris). P. unciniata is very similar, but has asymmetric cones, with some cone scales strongly elongated downwards.
Flower colours
No flowers
Life cycle
Perennial; wind dispersed.
Year naturalised
1988
Origin
European mountains from France and Italy E.
Reason for introduction
Agricultural
The National Wilding Conifer Control Programme team at Biosecurity New Zealand, a branch of Ministry for Primary Industries, has produced this wilding conifer quick ID guide.