Pinus strobus
Common name
Strobus 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.
PINSTR
Conservation status
Not applicable
Habitat
Terrestrial.
Features
Medium tree, reaching 50 m with a smooth trunk. Needles are in bunches of 5, 4-13 cm by 0.5-0.7 mm, green above, bluish below and broadly triangular in cross section. Mature cones are slender and elongated (3-5 by 7-16 cm), cylindrical and hanging.
Similar taxa
P. strobus can be easily distinguished from any other naturalised pine in NZ by the mainly smooth trunk, the needles in bunches of 5, and elongated soft cones. The cultivated Pinus wallichiana is very similar but has glabrous shoots and longer needles and cones than P. strobus.
Flower colours
No flowers
Life cycle
Perennial; reproduces by wind dispersed seed.
Year naturalised
1957
Origin
Eastern N. America
Reason for introduction
Forestry
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.