The Scots pine
The Wood Guide · The pine tree
Conifers · tree portraitThe Scots pine
Europe's most widespread pine, from the Kempen heathland deep into Siberia. Tough on poor, sandy soil — and the tree that pine timber comes from.
- Pinus sylvestris
- Gives pine timber
- Grows on poor sand
The Scots pine in brief
A light-loving pioneer that makes do with dry, nutrient-poor ground where other trees give up.
You can recognise it from a distance: a grey-brown, deeply furrowed trunk at the base, and higher up a bark that flakes off in thin scales and turns orange to rust-red . On older trees the crown is often irregular and flat-topped, with the branches high up the trunk.
In the Low Countries it is the pine of heathland and drifting sand. Large parts of the Kempen and the Veluwe were planted with Scots pine in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, partly for pit props. It is a fast-growing, undemanding tree that holds the soil in place.
Pine timber is not a separate tree species: it is the wood of the Scots pine. In the timber trade it is also called Scandinavian redwood or 'red' softwood, after its reddish-brown heartwood.
- Botanical
- Pinus sylvestris
- Origin
- Europe to Siberia, native in north-west Europe too
- Height
- usually 20–35 m
- Needles
- in pairs, 3–7 cm, blue-green and slightly twisted
- Wood
- pine (redwood) — reddish-brown heartwood, yellowish-white sapwood
- Durability
- heartwood class 3–4, sapwood 5
To be fair: the pale sapwood of pine deteriorates quickly outdoors without treatment. For outdoor use it is therefore pressure-treated — sapwood takes up the treatment very well — or only the heartwood is used.
In pictures · How to recognise a Scots pine
Schematic drawing.
How to recognise a Scots pine
Orange upper trunk
High up the trunk, the bark peels off in thin orange to rust-red flakes. That contrast with the dark base is the quickest giveaway.
Needles in pairs
Always two needles together in a sheath, short and blue-green, often slightly twisted.
Small cones
Grey-brown cones of about 3 to 7 cm, which take two years to ripen.
Poor soil
It grows where the ground is dry and sandy: heathland, coastal dunes and inland dunes. On rich soil it is crowded out by broadleaf trees.
From Scots pine to pine timber
Heartwood and sapwood
A reddish-brown heartwood and a broad band of yellowish-white sapwood. The contrast grows stronger over the years.
Easy to pressure-treat
The sapwood absorbs preservative readily. That makes pressure-treated pine an affordable and long-lasting outdoor timber.
Construction and furniture
Beams, boards, window frames and solid pine furniture: light enough to work, strong enough to carry a load.
Resinous
Pine smells of resin and can also bleed some of it, especially around knots and in the sun.
Pine comes from the Scots pine, spruce (whitewood) from the Norway spruce. Pine is slightly harder and more resinous, with a visible reddish-brown heartwood; spruce is paler and more even. The full difference is explained in pine or spruce.
Frequently asked questions about the Scots pine
Is pine timber the same as Scots pine?
Pine timber is the wood of the Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris). The tree is called Scots pine, the wood pine or redwood.
How do you recognise a Scots pine?
By the orange to rust-red bark high up the trunk and the needles that sit in pairs in a sheath.
How old does a Scots pine get?
Usually several centuries. In the far north of Scandinavia there are trees that are considerably older.
Can pine be used outdoors?
The heartwood lasts reasonably well outdoors, the sapwood does not. That is why pine for garden use is usually pressure-treated.
The Scots pine in perspective
The modest pine of the heathland, and yet one of the most important construction timbers in Europe.
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Photo via Wikimedia Commons: Pinus sylvestris — Dominicus Johannes Bergsma, CC BY-SA 4.0