{{Short description|Species of conifer}} {{Redirect-distinguish|Pinus griffithii|Larix griffithii}} {{Speciesbox | image = Bhutan pine tree.JPG | image_caption = Tree at Tortworth Court arboretum | status = LC | status_system = IUCN3.1 | status_ref = <ref name="iucn status 19 November 2021">{{cite iucn |author=Farjon, A. |date=2013 |title=''Pinus wallichiana'' |volume=2013 |article-number=e.T42427A2979371 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2013-1.RLTS.T42427A2979371.en |access-date=19 November 2021}}</ref> | display_parents = 3 | genus = Pinus | parent = Pinus subsect. Strobus | species = wallichiana | authority = A. B. Jacks. | synonyms = ''Pinus griffithii'' <small>McClelland</small><br/>''Pinus excelsa'' <small>Wall.</small><br/>''Pinus chylla'' <small>Lodd.</small> }}

'''''Pinus wallichiana''''' is a coniferous evergreen tree native to the Himalaya, Karakoram and Hindu Kush mountains, from eastern Afghanistan east across northern Pakistan and north west India to Yunnan in southwest China. It grows in mountain valleys at altitudes of 1800–4300&nbsp;m (rarely as low as 1200&nbsp;m), reaching {{convert|30-50|m|ft|abbr=on}} in height. It favours a temperate climate with dry winters and wet summers. In Pashto, it is known as ''Nishtar''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%D9%86%DA%9A%D8%AA%D8%B1|title=نښتر - Wiktionary|website=en.wiktionary.org|language=en|access-date=2018-03-29}}</ref>

This tree is often known as '''Bhutan pine''',<ref name=GRIN>{{GRIN | name = ''Pinus wallichiana'' A. B. Jacks. | id = 316268 | accessdate = 23 April 2014}}</ref> (not to be confused with the recently described Bhutan white pine, ''Pinus bhutanica'', a closely related species). Other names include '''blue pine''',<ref name=GRIN/> '''Himalayan pine'''<ref name=GRIN/> and '''Himalayan white pine'''.<ref name=GRIN/>

==Description== The leaves ("needles") are in fascicles (bundles) of five and are 12–18&nbsp;cm long. They are noted for being flexible along their length, and often droop gracefully. The cones are long and slender, 16–32&nbsp;cm, yellow-buff when mature, with thin scales; the seeds are 5–6&nbsp;mm long with a 20–30&nbsp;mm wing.

Typical habitats are mountain screes and glacier forelands, but it will also form old-growth forests as the primary species or in mixed forests with deodar, birch, spruce, and fir. In some places it reaches the tree line.{{cn|date=April 2022}}

''P. wallichiana'' is the primary host for Himalayan dwarf mistletoe.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hawksworth |first1=Frank G. |last2=Wiens |first2=Delbert |title=Dwarf Mistletoes |date=April 1998 |publisher=DIANE Publishing |isbn=978-0-7881-4201-7 |pages=264–265 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bdfXQ4c5h4IC |access-date=16 April 2022 |language=en}}</ref>

== Cultivation and uses == The wood is moderately hard, durable and highly resinous. It is a good firewood but gives off a pungent resinous smoke. It is a commercial source of turpentine which is superior quality than that of ''P. roxburghii'' but is not produced so freely.

The tree became available through the European nursery trade in 1836, nine years after the Danish botanist Nathaniel Wallich first introduced seeds to England. It is a popular tree for planting in parks and large gardens, grown for its attractive foliage and large, decorative cones. It is also valued for its relatively high resistance to air pollution, tolerating this better than some other conifers.

This plant<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/13150/i-Pinus-wallichiana-i/Details | title=''Pinus wallichiana'' AGM | publisher=Royal Horticultural Society | access-date=7 May 2020}}</ref> and its slow-growing cultivar 'Nana'<ref>{{cite web | url = https://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/79725/i-Pinus-wallichiana-i-Nana/Details | title = RHS Plantfinder - ''Pinus wallichiana'' 'Nana' | access-date = 25 April 2018}}</ref> have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.<ref>{{cite web | url = https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/pdfs/agm-lists/agm-ornamentals.pdf | title = AGM Plants - Ornamental | date = July 2017 | page = 78 | publisher = Royal Horticultural Society | access-date = 2 May 2018}}</ref>

==Gallery== <gallery> File:Bhutan pine foliage.JPG|Foliage Bhutan-Paro-144-Abstieg vom Taktshang-Tigernest-Pinienzweig-gje.jpg|Branch with needles, Paro, Bhutan File:Pinus wallichiana at VanDusen Botanical Garden.jpg|Cones, at VanDusen Botanical Garden File:Arceuthobium minutissimum.jpg|''P. wallichiana'' branch infected with Himalayan dwarf mistletoe Pinus wallichiana (DSC03147).jpg|Sapling </gallery>

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== {{Commons category}} * [http://www.conifers.org/pi/Pinus_wallichiana.php Gymnosperm Database: ''Pinus wallichiana''] * [http://www.pinetum.org/cones/PNStrobus.htm Photo of cones (scroll half-way down)] * [http://www.ibiblio.org/pfaf/cgi-bin/arr_html?Pinus+wallichiana&CAN=COMIND Plants for a future]

{{Taxonbar|from=Q747652}} {{Authority control}}

wallichiana Category:Trees of Afghanistan Category:Trees of Myanmar Category:Trees of Nepal Category:Trees of Pakistan Category:Flora of Tibet Category:Flora of West Himalaya Category:Flora of East Himalaya Category:Trees of temperate climates Category:Plants described in 1938