Scott pines

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jimit J
jimit Mar 29, 2003 11:33:11
Replying to broen

The Scots Pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) grows best on sandy soils and in highland areas esp in Scotland. It's not so happy on chalky soils where the similar Corsican Pine (Pinus nigra var.maritima (Ait) Melville) is much more common. You can usually tell them apart as the Scots Pine has beautiful rufus red upper branches but the Corsican's are a dull sooty grey.
General life span is 250 -300 yrs and rarely to 400 in Scotland.
BTW, You can estimate the age of most trees by a simple measurement, (only works in Imperial) find the girth about 5ft up the trunk in inches and that is the equivelent in years. Add a few years if it is in a wood or avenue. For Scots Pine add 50 % and it doesn't work at all for Yew

N nigelswift
nigelswift Mar 29, 2003 16:30:02
Replying to jimit

There are often pines on hilltops (thin soil, shallow rooted?)but as often as not they're in a circle, suggesting they were planted for effect relatively recently and had no predecessors.

It seems to me that if "signposts" are available it would be in the form of isolated yews. They have the known reverence and they have the age (some say that, since young ones can generate from dying ones, they can be effectively immortal).