Superregnum: Eukaryota
Cladus: Orthokaryota
Cladus: Neokaryota
Cladus: Photokaryota
Cladus: Diaphoretickes
Cladus: CAM
Cladus: Archaeplastida
Regnum: Plantae
Regnum*: Viridiplantae
Cladus: Streptophyta
Cladus: Phragmoplastophyta
Regnum*: Embryophyta
Divisio*: Tracheophyta
Divisio: Pinophyta
Classis: Pinopsida
Ordo: Pinales
Familia: Pinaceae
Genus: Pinus
Subgenus: P. subg. Pinus
Sectio: P. sect. Merkusia
Species: P. merkusii
Subspecies: P. m. subsp. merkusii – P. m. subsp. ustulata
Name
Pinus merkusii Jungh. & de Vriese, in W.H.de Vriese, Pl. Nov. Ind. Bat. 1: 5 (1845).
Note: Subspecies not supported by Farjon (2010), Govaerts et al. (2023) & Hassler (2023).
Distribution
Native distribution areas:
Asia-Tropical
Malesia
Philippines, Sumatera.
References: Brummitt, R.K. 2001. TDWG – World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, 2nd Edition
References
Additional references
Businský, R. 2008. The genus Pinus L., pines: contribution to knowledge. A monograph with cone drawings of all species of the world by Ludmila Businská. Acta Pruhoniciana 88: 1–126. PDF (Text) Photos 1–32 Photos 33–42 Figures 1–73Reference page.
Farjon, A. 2010. A Handbook of the World's Conifers. 2 vols., pp. 1–526 + 527–1111, Koninklijke Brill, Leiden, Boston. ISBN 978-90-04-17718-5. Reference page.
Links
Farjon, A. 2013. Pinus merkusii. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2013. IUCN Red List Category: Vulnerable . DOI: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2013-1.RLTS.T32624A2822050.en.
Govaerts, R. et al. 2023. Pinus merkusii in Kew Science Plants of the World Online. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published online. Accessed: 2023 March 7. Reference page.
International Plant Names Index. 2023. Pinus merkusii. Published online. Accessed: March 7 2023.
Hassler, M. 2023. World Plants. Synonymic Checklist and Distribution of the World Flora. . Pinus merkusii. Accessed: 7 March 2023.
Hassler, M. 2023. Pinus merkusii. World Plants: Synonymic Checklists of the Vascular Plants of the World In: Roskovh, Y., Abucay, L., Orrell, T., Nicolson, D., Bailly, N., Kirk, P., Bourgoin, T., DeWalt, R.E., Decock, W., De Wever, A., Nieukerken, E. van, Zarucchi, J. & Penev, L., eds. 2023. Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life. Published online. Accessed: 2023 March 7. Reference page.
Vernacular names
English: Sumatran Pine
Esperanto: Merkus-pino
فارسی: کاج سوماترا
suomi: Indonesianmänty
Bahasa Indonesia: Tusam Sumatera
перем коми: Суматраись пожум
polski: Sosna Merkusa
удмурт: Суматраысь пужым
Tiếng Việt: Thông Sumatra
Pinus merkusii, the Merkus pine[2] or Sumatran pine, is a pine native to the Malesia region of southeast Asia, and the only one that occurs naturally south of the equator.[3]
Description
Pinus merkusii is a medium-sized to large tree, reaching 25–45 metres (82–148 feet) tall and with a trunk diameter of up to 1 m (3 ft 3 in). The bark is orange-red, thick and deeply fissured at the base of the trunk, and thin and flaky in the upper crown. The leaves ('needles') are in pairs, very slender, 15–20 centimetres (6–8 inches) long and less than 1 millimetre (1⁄32 in) thick, green to yellowish green.
The cones are narrow conic, 5–8 cm (2–3+1⁄4 in) long and 2 cm (3⁄4 in) broad at the base when closed, green at first, ripening glossy red-brown. They open to 4–5 cm broad at maturity to release the seeds. The seeds are 5–6 mm (3⁄16–1⁄4 in) long, with a 15–20 mm (1⁄2–3⁄4 in) wing, and are wind-dispersed.
Related species
Pinus merkusii is closely related to the Tenasserim pine (P. latteri), which occurs farther north in southeast Asia from Myanmar to Vietnam; some botanists treat the two as conspecific (under the name P. merkusii, which was described first), but P. latteri differs in longer (18–27 cm or 7–10+1⁄2 in) and stouter (over 1 mm thick) leaves and larger cones with thicker scales, the cones often remaining closed for some time after maturity. It is also related to the group of Mediterranean pines including Aleppo pine and Turkish pine, which share many features with it.
Distribution
It can be found mainly in Indonesia in the mountains of northern Sumatra, and with two outlying populations in central Sumatra on Mount Kerinci and Mount Talang, and in the Philippines on Mindoro and in the Zambales Mountains on western Luzon. Isolated populations of Pinus merkusii can be found in Mainland Southeast Asia, such as Kirirom National Park, on the Cardamom Mountains in Cambodia and Bidoup Núi Bà National Park on the Đà Lạt Plateau in Vietnam.[4]
The population in central Sumatra, between 1° 40' and 2° 06' S latitude, is the only natural occurrence of any member of the Pinaceae south of the Equator. It generally occurs at moderate altitudes, mostly 400–1,500 m (1,300–4,900 ft), but occasionally as low as 90 m (300 ft) and up to 2,000 m (6,600 ft).[5]
References
Farjon, A. (2013). "Pinus merkusii". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2013: e.T32624A2822050. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2013-1.RLTS.T32624A2822050.en.
NRCS. "Pinus merkusii". PLANTS Database. United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Retrieved 4 October 2015.
"Pinus merkusii (Thông nhua) description – the Gymnosperm Database".
Setten, G. G. K. (September 1969). "THE PINES OF KIRIROM, CAMBODIA". The Commonwealth Forestry Review. 48 (3 (137)): 238.
Critchfield, William (1966). Geographic Distribution of the Pines of the World. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service. p. 15.
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