Pine black Austrian - decoration of any landscape

It is a fairly common plant in the temperate regions of Central Europe, from Austria in the west to Yugoslavia in the east. It grows on clay soils, sometimes on limestone rocks in mountainous regions, giving preference to southern slopes. Quite impressive coniferous tree, especially good looks pine black Austrian in his youth. Up to ten years, it has a wide conical crown, on which strong branches are symmetrically located. At the fifteen-year-old tree, the crown is already spreading, has an umbrella shape. But at any age it is very picturesque and attracts attention.

Appearance

Evergreen beauty in youth grows rapidly, with age, the pace slows down, but still on average over the year it grows by 40 cm in height and grows by 20 cm in width. Depending on the habitat, pine black has a height of 20 to 45 meters. The bark is thick with deep cracks, covered with gray-black scales, which have a beautiful decorative appearance.

Needles and Fruits

Sheet leaves in the form of needles are arranged in pairs in pairs. They are hard, stiff and prickly. In length reach up to 16 centimeters. Their color is special - deep dark green, from afar appearing black. It was he who gave the tree its name - a black pine. Needles last for 4-5 years, sometimes even 8. The fruits of this tree are cones. Light-brown in color and symmetrical in shape, they are from 5 to 9 centimeters long, its decorative effect making the pine more beautiful.

The undemanding lover of the sun

Pine is a light-loving plant, so it's hard to tolerate shading, it may even die. The roots of the tree are extremely strong and grow to a great depth, which helps it to withstand any wind force. Pine black unpretentious to the soil, successfully growing both on dry and wet, on acidic or poor substrates. In the Mediterranean grows even on dry and humus-free limestone stones. The main requirement for soils is good drainage.

Characteristics

Black pine has a number of excellent qualities that help it adapt to any conditions. The main of them are:

• Wind resistance;
• Frost resistance;
• Well tolerates summer heat and drought.

The tree is so undemanding that it easily tolerates air pollution and can develop in an urban climate. Possible decorative molding.

Using

In Western Europe, black pine is planted in artificial forest areas, beginning in 1759. It is considered a promising park-tree, as well as the pine of Fastigiata. With the help of these pyramidal pines create majestic alleys in recreational areas. Also they perfectly complement any landscape compositions. Thanks to the original crown and dark green needles, these trees are well combined with fir, spruce and douglas. Great compositions are obtained with deciduous species. In Russia, the pine has been known since 1833 and is used mainly as a rare and surprisingly beautiful plant. There was also practical application for it: it is planted to contain sand in the south of the steppe zone of Russia.