Pinus sylvestris; ‘Scots Pine’

Scots pine can be a small shrub to large evergreen trees up to 25 meters, depending on the way they are managed as they can easily be trimmed and used for ornamental parks and large gardens.

The bark on Scots pine can be quite variable, young bark being papery thin and orange-red colour. The bark on a mature tree can vary from grey to reddish-brown which creates layered plates of flakes of up to 5cm, with deep fissures in between.

With a life span of 250-300 years and have been found to be as old as 520 years old in a western pinewood in Scotland.

Scots pine leaves are blue/green needles that grow in pairs and about 5cm in length, which alternate around the stems. These leaves normally stay on the tree for 2-3 years, with old needles turning yellow in September before they shed.

Scots pine is the only coniferous native tree in Britain; it gets the name scots pine as its one of the few trees which can grow to maturity in the harsh landscape of the Scottish highlands.

This Scots pine was found in Platt Feilds park, in the small ornamental garden, there were a line of Scots pines in a row which worked as a screen blocking noise and wind.