Patula pine

Description

Pinus patula, commonly known as patula pine, spreading-leaved pine, or Mexican weeping pine, and in Spanish as pino patula or pino llorón, (patula Latin = “spreading”) is a tree native to the highlands of Mexico. It grows from 24° to 18° North latitude and 1800 to 2700 m above sea level. The tree is 30 meters tall. It cannot not stand long periods of temperatures as low as –10 °C, but resists occasional brief below zero dips. It is moderately drought-tolerant, in this respect it is superior to Pinus taeda. Rainfall range is from 750 to 2000 mm annual average, it happens mostly in summer but in a little area of the State of Veracruz on the Sierra Madre Oriental its habitat is rainy year round. It is planted at high altitudes in Ecuador (3500 m), Bolivia, Colombia (3300m), Kenya, Tanzania, Angola, Zimbabwe, Papua New Guinea, and Hawaii (3000 m). In Hawaii it is replacing the native alpine grassland. At lower altitudes than its origin country it is cultivated in Southern Brazil, South Africa, India, and in the Argentine provinces of Córdoba and San Luis. it is planted for forestation purposes in lands originally covered by bushland.