The pine
๐ In short
The pine is an evergreen tree with long, thin needle-like leaves, and woody fruits called cones or pine cones. There are about a hundred kinds of pine, almost all in the northern half of the world.
๐คฉ Did you know?
- There are about 100 kinds of pine.
- Male cones are usually shorter than 2.5 centimeters.
- About 65 kinds of pine grow in North America.
- A fragrant gum called resin comes from pines.
๐ Find out more
๐ Leaves like needles
Pine needles are covered in a waxy layer that holds in water, so they stay green even in cold winter and snow. That's why pine forests stay green all year.
๐ Cones
A pine has small male cones that make pollen, and bigger female cones with woody scales. Seeds grow between the scales, and when the weather is dry the scales open and the seeds fall out.
๐ก The pine we eat
The seeds of some pines are delicious; they're pine nuts, which we put on rice, in kibbeh and in Arab sweets.
๐ฏ Very old trees
Some pines are among the oldest living things on Earth, growing in the dry mountains of America, and some are more than 4000 years old!
๐ธ More pictures
๐งฉ Test yourself
1 What shape are pine leaves?
2 What do we call a pine's woody fruits?
3 There are about ?? kinds of pine.
4 Which picture shows โThe pineโ?
๐ณ Discover more
๐ท Picture sources: Wikimedia Commons
- Vlad & Marina Butsky on Flickr ยท CC BY 2.0
- Dcrjsr ยท CC BY-SA 3.0
- Famartin ยท CC BY-SA 4.0
- Famartin ยท CC BY-SA 4.0
