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Distribution of Pinus merkusii (solid color) and P. latteri (large enclosed region) (3).
Pinus latteri Mason 1849

Common Names

Tenasserim pine.

Taxonomic notes

Syn: P. ikedai Yamam.; P. tonkinensis A. Chev.; P. merkusii var. tonkinensis (A. Chev.) Gaussen ex N.-S. Bui; P. merkusii var. latteri (Mason) Silba; P. merkusii subsp. latteri (Mason) D. Z. Li; P. merkusiana Cooling & Gaussen, nom. inval.. Previously commonly treated as synonymous with P. merkusii Jungh. & De Vriese, but now treated as a distinct species (4).

Alliances to pines other than P. merkusii are unclear, but probably closest to Sect. Pinea, subsect. Pinaster (5).

Description

A tree, 30-45(65) m tall with and open crown and level to upcurved branches, the crown changing from conical to rounded as the tree ages. Bark rough, gray-brown, deeply fissured, forming small rounded plates on the lower part of the trunk; thin and flaky in upper crown. Branches mostly uninodal. Leaves 2 per fascicle, 19-27 cm long, moderately slender, rigid, sheaths persistent; dried leaves 100-200 mg per fascicle (c.f. under 90 mg in P. merkusii). Cones singly or in pairs with short stalks, 6.5-13 cm long, elongate conic with a rounded base before opening, green ripening glossy orange-brown. Cone scales large with a flat apophysis and a prominent transverse keel; seeds medium-small, 10 mm, with a long wing. The seedlings show a grass stage. (1, 2, 3).

Range

Vietnam, Laos, Kampuchea, Thailand and southern Myanmar; also in extreme S China (Hainan Island), but possibly introduced there. It is found from sea level to 900 m (mostly at lower altitudes than the sympatric P. kesiya but with some overlap), usually in open, savannah-like areas that are frequently burned by native peoples.  USDA hardiness zone 9-10.

Big Tree

Oldest

Dendrochronology

Ethnobotany

Planted trees are tapped for resin (2).

Observations

Remarks

Listed as threatened in Vietnam (as P. kerkusii) by the World Conservation Monitoring Centre.

Citations

(1) E.N.G. Cooling & H. Gaussen 1970. In Indochina Pinus merkusiana sp. nov. et non P. merkusii Jungh. et De Vriese. Trav. Lab. Forest. Toulouse T. 1 V. 8 Art. 7.
(2) Farjon 1984.
(3) de Laubenfels 1988 (as P. merkusii).
(4) Farjon 1998.
(5) M. P. Frankis, Morphology and affinities of Pinus brutia. Pp. 11-18 in O. Tashkin (ed.) Papers Internatl. Sympos. Pinus brutia. Marmaris / Ankara, 1993.

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This page is from the Gymnosperm Database
URL: http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/Canopy/2285/pi/pin/latteri.htm
Edited by Christopher J. Earle
E-mail:earlecj@earthlink.com
Last modified on 6-Feb-1999

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