| Pinus merkusii | |
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Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Gymnospermae |
| Division: | Pinophyta |
| Class: | Pinopsida |
| Order: | Pinales |
| Family: | Pinaceae |
| Genus: | Pinus |
| Subgenus: | P. subg.Pinus |
| Section: | P.sect. Pinus |
| Subsection: | P.subsect. Pinus |
| Species: | P. merkusii |
| Binomial name | |
| Pinus merkusii Jungh. & de Vriese | |
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| Natural range ofPinus merkusii | |
Pinus merkusii, theMerkus pine[2] orSumatran pine, is apine native to theMalesia region of southeastAsia, and the only one that occurs naturally south of the equator.[3]
Pinus merkusii is a medium-sized to largetree, reaching 25–45 metres (82–148 feet) tall and with a trunk diameter of up to 1 m (3 ft 3 in). Thebark is orange-red, thick and deeply fissured at the base of the trunk, and thin and flaky in the upper crown. Theleaves ('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.
Thecones are narrow conic,5–8 cm (2–3+1⁄4 in) long and2 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 are5–6 mm (3⁄16–1⁄4 in) long, with a15–20 mm (1⁄2–3⁄4 in) wing, and are wind-dispersed.
Pinus merkusii is closely related to theTenasserim pine (P. latteri), which occurs farther north in southeast Asia fromMyanmar toVietnam; some botanists treat the two as conspecific (under the nameP. merkusii, which was described first), butP. 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 ofMediterranean pines includingAleppo pine andTurkish pine, which share many features with it.
It can be found mainly inIndonesia in the mountains of northernSumatra, and with two outlying populations in central Sumatra onMount Kerinci andMount Talang, and in thePhilippines onMindoro and in theZambales Mountains on westernLuzon. Isolated populations ofPinus merkusii can be found inMainland Southeast Asia, such asKirirom National Park, on theCardamom Mountains inCambodia andBidoup Núi Bà National Park on theĐà Lạt Plateau inVietnam.[4]
The population in central Sumatra, between 1° 40' and 2° 06' S latitude, is the only natural occurrence of any member of thePinaceae south of theEquator. 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]
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