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The Scots pine

The Wood Guide · The pine tree

Conifers · tree portrait

The 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
Pinus sylvestris
Summary

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 Scots pine

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.

Recognising

How to recognise a Scots pine

Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris)Scots pinePinus sylvestris

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 tree to plank

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 or spruce?

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.

Quick answer

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.

More in The Wood Guide

The Scots pine in perspective

The modest pine of the heathland, and yet one of the most important construction timbers in Europe.

What is pine wood? The pine tree To The Wood Guide

Have a question about your project? Just ask — we're happy to help.

Photo via Wikimedia Commons: Pinus sylvestris — Dominicus Johannes Bergsma, CC BY-SA 4.0

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