| General Description | This tree is coved in beautiful, blue-green needles that grow in
fascicles of five. New grown branches are a pale brown colour and smooth. They begin
to develop a gray undertone with age, changing their colour to a calm, gray-brown
colour. The tree can secrete a small amount of sticky resin. |
| ID Characteristic | The Kwangtung Pine has a slight sticky resin on the foliar buds, a
decently sized cone that may also be slightly resinous, as well as long, blue-green
needles growing upwards in fascicles of five. |
| Shape | The Pinus kwangtungensis takes on a very upright shape. It could easily be
described as pyramidal in form. |
| Landscape | Given that the Kwangtung Pine is an evergreen, it makes for a very
attractive accent tree year-round (though not very hardy to freezing climates). |
| Propagation | Pines can be propagated by either seed or branch cuttings. To propagate
a branch cutting, simply cut about 4 – 6 inches of the most recent growth. Remove no
less than 1/3 and no more than half of the cutting’s needles. Place it in a moist, but not
soggy medium. Keep the needles from touching the soil. Place the cuttings in a humid,
warm environment under bright, indirect lights. Keep the soil moist and transplant once
the cutting develops roots. |
| Cultivation | The Pinus kwangtungensis likes evenly moist, well-draining soils in full sun
or part shade. It is deer resistant as well as resistant to verticillium wilt. |
| Pests | No reported pests specific to the kwangtungensis species. |
| Notable Specimens | Conservatoire et Jardin botaniques, Geneve, Switzerland. |
| Habitat | Pinus kwangtungensis is often found growing in regions with high altitude
including the middle of Wuzhishan Mountains and Yinggeling Mountains. |
| Bark/Stem Description | In the first year, branchlets are smooth and are a very pale
brown in colour. As the tree matures, the smooth, pale bark on the branchlets will
toughen and develop into a scaley gray-brown bark. |
| Flower/Leaf Bud Description | Foliar buds are slightly resinous. Buds start off very
small at the end of a branch and later develop into cones. |
| Leaf Description | The needles of the Pinus kwangtungensis grow five per fascicle.
Each needle is about 3.5 to 7 centimetres in length and about 1 to 1.5 millimetres thick.
The fascicles grow upwards on the stem of the plant and the needles have a triangular
cross section. |
| Flower Description | The cones of Pinus kwangtungensis begin growing on a 7 - 20-
millimetre peduncle at the end of a branch. When mature, the cones are a very showy
red-brown colour. They are quite sizeable, at approximately 3 to 9 centimetres in length
and 1.5 to 7 centimetres wide. The cones are oblong and cylindrical in shape and may
be slightly resinous to the touch. |
| Fruit Description | Pinus kwangtungensis produces small seeds, about 0.8 – 1.2
centimetres in size. The seeds are quite round, very much ellipsoid or egg-shaped.
Pollination of the seed takes place in the early to mid-spring months (around April –
May) and the seeds mature in their second year after pollination, in October. |
| Colour Description | The Pinus kwangtungensis produces needles that are either bright
green or quite blue-green in colour. The bark of Pinus kwangtungensis is not particularly
flashy, it is very gray brown when it has become fully matured, and rather pale brown
when new. |
| Texture Description | Pinus kwangtungensis needles are smooth and soft in the sense
that they are not particularly pointy. Bark on young or small branches is very smooth but
will evolve to be much more scaley as the tree ages. |