Black Pine of Fara S. Martino
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Family: |
Pinaceae |
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Scientific Name: |
Pinus nigra Arnold subsp. nigra
Hoss var. italica Hochstetter |
|
Description: |
Soaring tree that can grow until 20 meters, with
pyramidal foliage and benches set out in flag. Clear bark that
flakes off in longitudinal patches. Its needles are coupled,
rigid, thorny and dark-green coloured. |
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Ecology: |
It can be found in grassy ledges or on sheer
calcareous rocks. The faces on which it grows are on
inaccessible and sheer gorges. In these environments the Black
Pine survived thanks to its marked inclination for pioneerism,
that allows the sprouting in marginal zones, completely
uninhabitable for other arboreous species. |
|
Interest: |
The Vegetable Biology Department of Florence
University carried out recent studies, based on comparison of
morphological, histochemical and molecular characters, which
demonstrated that the Majella Pinus nigra has to put down in the
same classification used for the Black Pine of Camosciara,
namely as Pinus nigra Arn. subsp. nigra Hoss var. italica
Hochstetter. This species of Pine, growing on Central Apennine
as relict, lives in very few and isolated spots that represent
what remains of its old areale of distribution, probably wider
and more continuous in the past. |
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Presence In the Park: |
It is located on two places in the territory of
Fara S. Martino and in the Orfento Valley. The presence of
several pinewoods with Pinus nigra in the Park territory is a
result of reforestation carried out during the past century. |
|
Curiosities: |
It is called, in dialect,“chieuta” and it has been used in the
past in order to produce the torches for the evening religious
processions thanks to its very scented benches full of resin. |
