Scots Pine (Pinus sylvestris) Click Here for Austrian Pine (P. nigra)	Simple Needle/Flattened Needle Pairs
	Male flowers Female flowers	The leaves are needle-like, rigid, blue-green and arranged  in pairs, each 3-8 cm long and under 2 mm wide, smaller than those of most other pines. They are often twisted and their margins are very finely toothed. ID check Scots Pine is an evergreen tree, up to over 30 m in height, with a warm, reddish-brown or orange upper bark and a deeply fissured dark brown lower bark. It is a native of woodlands on acid soils in the Scottish Highlands, but is widely planted and regenerates from self-sown seed elsewhere. Male and female flowers grow separately on the same tree (monoecious). Crimson female flowers are arranged in pairs of inflorescences which develop into cones. The male inflorescences are yellow and arranged in clusters below the females on the same shoot. The woody cones, 3-7 cm long, are smaller than those of Austrian Pine. Facts The wood is strong yet soft and easily worked. It is used for furniture, boxes, fencing, telegraph poles etc. Scots Pine was once a major source of turpentine, but this now comes mainly from the Maritime Pine which is grown for this product in France. The seeds in the cones are the main food of Crossbills (a large finch), whilst needles are eaten by caterpillars of the Pine Looper and Pine Beauty moths