Swiss stone pine (Pinus cembra)

Features and Characteristics

Pinus cembra, commonly called Swiss stone pine or arolla pine, is native to mountain areas in central Europe from the Alps to the Carpathians. It is a slow-growing, medium-sized pine with a narrow pyramidal shape in its youth, gradually becoming rounded and more open as it matures. It typically grows 30-40’ tall in cultivation, but will grow to 100’ tall in the wild in its native habitat. Soft, dark green to blue green needles (2-5” long) with white stomatic lines appear in bundles of five. Short-stalked, oblong cones (to 5” long) are greenish purple when young, maturing to purplish-brown. Cones never open. Cone seeds are edible. The pine nuts consumed as food in Europe primarily come from the stone pines, namely, this species and P. pinea (Italian stone pine).

Genus name comes from the Latin name for pines.

Specific epithet is the Italian name for this plant.