Scientific Name
Pinus nigra
This native conifer of central Europe, along with our native ponderosa pine, is one of the most common pines in our region and gives us some of our oldest and most imposing trees. Its needles are dark green, very stiff, sharp-pointed, 4 to 5 inches long and grow in bundles of two. The needles usually remain on the tree for four years. The mature bark is quite attractive, with dark furrows and intervening gray and brown plates. The tree is reluctant to lose its lower branches, which often spread wide, sweeping the ground when not hemmed in by other trees. The seed (female) cones are 2 to 3 inches long and have prickly scales. (For conifers, the male pollen cones are used much less for species identification because they’re much smaller and don’t remain on the trees for nearly as long.)
Austrian pine is common in cold climates because it’s very tolerant of difficult environmental conditions, including clay and alkaline soils. It begins its life pyramid-shaped but develops into a rather dark, flat-topped, individualistic form that generally doesn’t exceed 60 feet in height here. Though, it is easily double that in its native habitat. The typical life span of these trees is around 300 years, twice that being a reasonable maximum. Although native to high mountain areas in Europe, these trees are not immune to limb breakage caused by heavy wet snow loads that can occur in our region in spring and fall.