Khasi Pine

The Khasi Pine, Pinus kesiya, is one of the most distributed pines in Asia. Its range extends south and east from the Khasi hills in the northeast Indian state of Meghalaya from where it got its name to northern Thailand, Burma, Laos, southernmost China, Vietnam and the Philippines. The Khasi Pine population are especially dense in India and Burma and quite sparse elsewhere in its natural range. It is an important plantation species elsewhere in the world, including in southern Africa and South Americahttp://www.ceh.ac.uk/sections/documents/ENPinaceaeCM_000.pdf "Conifers of Vietnam - An illustrated field guide for the most important forest trees", Pinaceae section (published by the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology of the Natural Environment Research Council, UK..

In English it is commonly known as either:

• the Khasi Pine (from the Khasi hills in India)
• the Benguet Pine (from the landlocked province of Benguet in Luzon, the Philippines, where it is the dominant species of the Luzon tropical pine forests)
• the Three-needled Pine.

The Philippine population (Benguet Pine) is sometimes known as Pinus insularis; however, the current opinion is to treat these as conspecific with P. kesiya. The city of Baguio is nicknamed "The City of Pines", as it is noted for large stands of this tree.

Description

Pinus kesiya is a tree reaching up to 30-35 m tall with straight, cylindrical trunk. The bark is thick, dark brown, with deep...
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