THE PINE TREE

Pines are native to a majority of the Northern Hemisphere see List of pines by region and have been introduced throughout most temperate and subtropical regions of the world where they are grown as timber and cultivated as ornamental plants in parks and gardens. One species Sumatran pine crosses the equator in Sumatra to. In North America, A number of introduced species have become invasive, threatening native ecosystems.

Pines are evergreen, coniferous resinous trees or rarely shrubs growing, with the majority of species reaching 15–45 m tall. The smallest are Siberian dwarf pine and Potosi pinyo, and the tallest is a 268.35-foot 81.79-meter tall ponderosa pine located in southern Oregon's Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest.

The bark of most pines is thick and scaly, but some species have thin, flaking bark. The branches are produced in regular pseudo whorls, actually a very tight spiral but appearing likes a ring of branches arising from the same point. Many pines are uninodal, producing just one such whorl of branches each year, from buds at the tip of the year's new shoot, but others are multinodal, producing two or more whorls of branches per year.

 The spiral growth of branches, needles, and cone scales are arranged in Fibonacci number ratios. Citation needed the new spring shoots are sometimes called candles they are covered in brown or whitish bud scales and point upward at first, then later turn green and spread outward. These candles offer foresters a means to evaluate fertility of the soil and vigour of the trees.