Processionary moth pine tree pest - Thaumetopoea pityocampa

The Precessionary moth (Thaumetopoea pityocampa) is a little bug but a rather major pest to pine forests in southern Europe.  This little critter builds nests (called "tents") in pine trees.  When the larvae are ready that march out of the "tents" in single file to feed on the pine needles.  If there are several tents in a single tree the caterpillars can literally eat very last green needle right off the tree (see images below).  They are called Processionary due to their single file "procession" that can often be found along the ground under the trees.  One curious thing about these processions is that if you injure any of the caterpillars in the line they will instantly all disconnect and go in different directions as if in a panic.  They do this even if you only pick on the very last on in the line and out of sight of those at the front of the line.  If you give them a few minutes however they will get in a new line again.  Whatever you do don´t touch these with your hands as they can cause irritation to the skin.

A "tent" ready for the caterpillars to march out (below).  Sometimes these get so heavy that they fall out of the trees.

The image below is of an emptied tent where they have already gone out and cleaned the green needles of f of the branches.

The image below is of a newly built tent nest.

The next image shows a young pine tree that has been totally cleaned of all green needles.  This can kill the tree but most often just stunts the growth severally.

Here is a close up of how the branches look after the critters have eaten their full.

This is a picture of hope.  A new growth the next year after a tree has been affected.

Some forests are so afflicted by the Thaumetopoea pityocampa moth that they whole forest looses its green color and turns a grew-brown color.

Mountain Pine - Pinus mugo subsp. uncinata

The Mountain pine tree (species name: Pinus mugo subsp. uncinata or sometimes just referred to as pinus uncinata) is a tree native to eastern Spain at fairly high altitudes in the Pyranees mountains. I had come across this tree species some months back in various online forums in Spanish where there is a debate as to which is the true "Pino negro" (Black Pine in Spanish). It seems that there are at least pine tree species in Spain that are commonly called Pino Negro and this species is one of them. The other is the pine tree species Pinus nigra (European Black Pine) that I blogged about last month. They are similar trees but from my observations they are easily distinguished from their cones.
The image above shows a new forming cone and the needles which occur in pairs and are about 3 inches long and fairly stiff. In the picture below you can see the pollen cones and the new leaf growth.

The cones are green before they mature and then turn a beautiful brown color. The tips of the scales give the appearance of being pointed backwards.
I did pick up some opened cones on the ground and found that when they are fully opened they are more difficult to distiguish from other pine tree species such as the p. nigra or the p. sylvestris (Scotts pine).
I took these pictures in the small ski resort town of La Molina in the Catalan region of Spain. Another evergreen tree species in and around this town was the Nordmann fir.

European Black Pine - Pinus nigra

The European Black Pine tree (Pinus Nigra) is called "Pino Negro" in its native Spain (its native range is actually quite broad and extends from North Africa all across Southern Europe and into Asia. It has relatively small cones as far as pines go. The cones in these pictures were about 6-7 cm long (2 inches). I found the black stripe down the middle of the scales (above) very interesting. These newly opened cones had an almost perfect shape. As they dry and turn more of a grey-brown color this stripe seems to fade.

The image below is of the polen cones.
One of the stand of this tree species that I found was of trees that were quite straight and tall (25 meters, 75 feet). In the vicinity of this tree stand there were numerous Atlas Cedars.
The image below is a detailed drawing of the European Black Pine´s various parts.

Ponderosa Pine tree - Pinus ponderosa

I took these pictures of the Ponderosa Pine in a park on the north side of Spokane Washington near highway two as it head north-east towards Newport. Along one side of the park there was a stand of these tall pine trees and as the day was clear and sunny it was a great opportunity to get some good detail pictures of the cones and pine needles.

The needles of this pine tree species are about 7-8 inches long (17-20cm). The seed cones are roundish and about 4 inches long. I would estimate that the trees in the picture above are about 100 feet tall.

As can be seen in the image above the new seed cones are quite prickly as is the bark on the new branches. The bark on the main trunk has a puzzle like pattern.


The seed cones grow two or three together at the same place on the branch and when they fall they leave a curious looking stub (below).

This tree is quite common throughout the Inland Empire and up into Canada.

Aleppo Pine - Pinus halepensis

Very close to where I live there is a "Parque Natural" (Like a national park) called "Montes de Málaga". Many years ago it was scarcely populated with Olive and Carob trees. In an effort to prevent flooding in the City of Málaga the hills were repopulated with Aleppo Pine trees and thus the Montes de Málaga Parque Natural was created.
I´m not sure why this particular species of pine was chosen as it is not native to Spain. Nor does it seem to be reproducing naturally in the Montes de Málaga area. At any rate it is fairly well suited to the climate and has been effective in reducing the water runoff when heavy rains fall in the hills above Málaga.
These pines do not seem to be of much value commercially as they do not grow very big or very straight. One of there chief qualities seems to be their ability to survive dry climate conditions.

The needles on this pine are about 8-10 cm long. The cones are about the same length and have the curious habit of doubling back on the branch as can be seen in the image above. Old cones stay on the tree for a long time and it is not uncommon to see older trees loaded with old cones that never fell off.

Australian Pine - Casuarina equisetifolia

One of my childhood memories is of stepping barefooted on the little "cones" that drop from the Australian pine tree. The reason I remember this odd little detail is that these little "cones" were very prickly and left quite an impression on the bottom of ones foot.

I´m not really sure if you can call them cones? They are only about 1cm or so long (1/2 inch). They are sort of shaped likes pine cones but not exactly. This tree is not even a real pine tree (that is to say that it is not a member of the pine genus - pinus)

You can see from looking at it why it might be called a pine tree. It has needle like leaves similar to a pine although if you look closely you will notice that they are different. For one they don´t grow in groups of two, three or four needles. Each one grows individualy from the branch.

The needles are about 15-20 cm in length (4-5 inches). If you look closely at them they have sections.

This native Australian tree, like a good number of others, has easily adapted to the climate of Southern Spain and can be found growing wild in many places.

Pine nuts from the Stone Pine tree

I went of a hike in the hills above the town of Mijas (Spain) and found myself in a forest of Stone Pines (Pinus pinea). Seeing some mature looking pine cones in some of the trees I decided to try and climb one. I was curious to find out how hard it is to extract the pine nuts from these cones.
I found a tree with some fairly low branches and managed to climb up to the top (this tree was only about 20 feet tall). When I reached the pine cones I found that they were full of pine nuts that were ready to fall. So much so that as I reached out to grab the first cones a bunch of its pine nuts fell out. In the end I gave up on trying to break off the pine cones without spilling the pine nuts and started throwing a few to the ground. Then I had to search around on the ground for all the pine nuts that had dislodged from the cones. I took home about 6-7 pine cones.
I think there were about 50-60 pine nuts in each cone. As you can see from the image above there were two nuts nested on each scale of the cone. All I had to do to get them out was to shake the cone a bit and then pry out the stubborn ones with a knife.
From five cones I filled a dinner sized plate with pine nuts (still in their shells). At this point the shells are covered with a black powder than rubs off on your fingers.
This is where the hard part started. These shells are not easy to open!! I tried a hammer but between hitting my fingers and having the little guys go shooting off in all directions decided that there must be a better way.
In the end I settled on using a pair of Vice-Grips that I had in my tool box. If you set the grip depth just right you can crack the shell without destroying the pine nut. Even then it was quite a bit of work to get though that plate of pine nuts!
Once the outer shells were off there is another very thin shell of the nuts similar to that of a peanut. You can eat these nuts raw or, like I did, you can roast them in the oven for a few minutes and eat them roasted. They are a real treat! They are also good in cookies, cakes, bread etc.

external links...

http://www.tenthousandtrees.com/Pinaceae/Pinus%20Pinea.html