Pinus nigra J.F. Arnold subsp. mauretanica (Maire & Peyerimh.) Heywood
P. nigra var. mauretanica Maire & Peyerimh., P. clusiana subsp. mauretanica (Maire & Peyerimh.) Maire
Eng.: Black pine. Spa.: Pino salgareño, pino laricio. Fre.: Pin noir. Ara.: Senuber, snuber. Tam.: Anagro, negro (Riff), taïda.
Evergreen green, monoecious, medium sized tree that can reach up to 20 m in height, very irregular shape in adult specimens, pyramidal in younger ones. Trunk up to 1 m in diameter, straight, greyish-silvery bark, which turns dark grey and very fissured in older specimens. Branches usually whorled, arched upwards in the lower parts of the tree, irregular towards the top. Branchlets orange. Leaves acicular, rigid, narrow (10-14 × 0.16-0.19 cm), grouped in pairs and surrounded by a thin membranous sheath at the base. Male cones subcylindrical (1.5-2 × 0.5-0.7 cm), subsessile, yellowish, growing in groups toward the end of the branchlets. Female cones ovoid, very short (8-15 mm), solitary or whorled, red. Strobili subsessile, ovoid-conical (4-6 × 2-4 cm). Scales with depressed apophysis, with a small ± salient appendix in the centre. Seeds very small (5-7 mm), with a relatively large wing (20-25 mm).
Flowering:
March to May.
Fruiting:
Between September and November of the second year, with the cones opening for seed dispersal in the spring of the third year.
Habitat:
In calcareous and calcareous-dolomitic humid mountains, between 1,400 and 1,800 m, in subhumid to hyperhumid ombrotype. Unlike in Mediterranean Europe, where the species forms almost pure pine woods, even monospecific, in the Maghreb region this pine grows scattered among cedars and fir forests, with yews, oaks and maples. Probably in a more natural environment.
Distribution:
P. nigra is mainly distributed throughout southern Europe, from the Iberian Peninsula to Crimea and Anatolian Peninsula. In North Africa, where subspecies mauretanica is endemic, it is very rare. There is only one location in the central part of the Djurdjura Massif in Algeria (west of Tidjka) and several locations in the western Rif (Gomara mountains), where there are isolated individuals or small forests, but without forming dense forests. In the central Rif, it has also been cited in Aknul.
Observations:
This species is clearly in a regressive process in North Africa (like many other native forest tree species), which should be stopped by eliminating its threats and by using it more (together with native cedars, firs, oaks, and maples) to repopulate the high and medium calcareous mountain of the Maghreb region. On the other hand, plantations of non-native pines should be progressively eliminated, such as P. brutia Ten., P. pinea L. or P. canariensis C.Sm. There is good literature on the delicate situation of P. nigra in North Africa.
Conservation status:
Very common and widespread species. In the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species it is listed at a global level as Least Concern (LC), for the species as a whole and for the subsp. salzmannii (Farjon 2013). However, the North African populations considered in this project as subsp. mauretanica have very few individuals. If this subspecies were to be assessed at a national and/or at a regional level it would possibly be ranked as threatened. In Morocco it is included in its List of native species that need authorization for commercial use (Law 29-2005 and Decree 2-12-484 of 21-May-2015). In Algeria it is included in the List of protected non cultivated flora (Executive Decree 12-03 on 4-Jan-2012).