Three essential characteristics
You can easily tell whether your tree is a black pine or a Scots pine by three main characteristics:
- the shape of the needles
- the color of the bark
- the appearance of the pine cones
also read
- The Scots pine in bonsai shape- care tips and more
- Scots pine profile
- Overview of different types of pine tree
The shape of the needles
If you compare the length of the needles, it is clearly noticeable that the leaves of the black pine, with a length of 15 cm, are twice as long as those of the Scots pine. Those only reach a length of 7 cm. What both conifers have in common, however, is that their leaves grow in pairs on a short shoot.
The color of the bark
A good clue that you can also refer to to distinguish trees is the color of the bark. The black pine has a uniformly colored bark. Their trunk is dark from top to bottom. The Scots pine is a bit more colorful. At the bottom of the base, brown-red scales form the bark. Further up, it loses its thickness and its color changes to a bright orange.
The appearance of the pine cones
Ultimately, it also helps to look at the cones of the two pine trees. On the one hand, both tree fruits differ in length. The black pine produces much larger specimens. In a direct comparison you can also see that the cones have different shapes. While those of the Scots pine can be crooked or curved, the cones of the black pine are regular and straight shaped.
