Digital Garden

Pinus caribaea Morelet

കരീബിയന് പൈൻ

Family : PINACEAE

Synonym : Pinus caribaea var. anomala Rowlee

Common Names : Caribbean Pine

Flowering Period : Throughout the year

Distribution : Cuba

Habitat : Cultivated

Uses : Seed edible - raw or cooked. A vanillin flavouring is obtained as a by-product of other resins that are released from the pulpwood. The leaf oil is sometimes used for medicinal baths. Oil of turpentine, obtained from the oleo-resin of all pine trees, is antiseptic, antispasmodic, astringent, diuretic, rubefacient, stimulant and vermifuge. Applied externally in the form of liniment plasters, poultices, herbal steam baths and inhalers, it is a very beneficial treatment for a variety of skin complaints, wounds, sores, burns, boils etc. A tan or green dye is obtained from the needles. The bark contains tannin; about 10% can be extracted and dried to a reddish powder soluble in water.

Key Characters :

Trees to 25 m; crown sparse; bark reddish-brown; winter buds oblong, tapering above, scales oblong, to 1.4 cm, apex acuminate; margins serrulate. Leaves in 3 s, rarely more, to 25 cm, margins serrulate, apex acute; stomatic lines on all 3 sides, in 5-7 rows; basal sheath to 1.5 cm, persistent. Staminate cones ovoid, to 1.2 x 0.6 cm, clustered. Microsporophylls broadly obovate, to 0.15 cm; hood rounded, to 0.1 cm.