Scots Pine ID test

If you think you have a Scots Pine (Pinus sylvestris) ..... you would be looking at a conifer with one single main trunk, and at the upper levels, the bark is often quite orange. Get a sample of the foliage from a low-hanging branch - if you can't reach the branches, check around the base of the tree for fallen branches with fresh foliage.

Firstly, how many needles are there in each bunch? If more than 2, it is definitely not Scots Pine.

If they are in twos,  are they long and slender, or short and stout?

If they are more than 3" (about 75cms) then they are not Scots Pine.

If they are 3" or less, are the individual needles straight, or twisted? And what colour are they - glaucous (bluish grey)? Or fresh green?

If they are straight and glaucous, there's a good chance it's Scots Pine.  If they are twisted and clear green, they are not: they may be Pinus contorta, Lodgepole Pine. I assume that the "contorta" bit refers to the contorted needles, so that's an easy one to remember.

So if you have short (less than 3") needles in pairs, straight, and glaucous, you may well have Scots Pine.

Now for the ID test:

Take one of the needles and pull it apart (grip one end in each hand and pull steadily until it rips). Is the break a clean break, or is there a tuft of fibres sticking out from the broken ends?

Here's a close-up of one I ripped apart earlier:

Can you see the tuft of fibres?

Think of them like a beard... Scotsmen are often depicted in silly stereotyped cartoons as being red-headed, red-bearded figures, so if you combine the redness of the trunk and the "beard" of fibres, well,, there's a way to remember it.

Scots Pine - red, and bearded. Red bark, and a "beard" of fibres if you full a needle apart.

Now get out there and start destroying pine needles! *laughs*