Pine question

  • Hey Guest, Early bird pricing on the Summer Moot (29th July - 10th August) available until April 6th, we'd love you to come. PLEASE CLICK HERE to early bird price and get more information.
I was wondering through my nearby coniferous plantation this evening, paying a bit more attention than usual to the differences between the various pines. The majority are the gnarly barked pine you see everywhere as per this photo:

d1e018b8e326cbcc1ebd4965c2eb99afa74132b3_wmeg_00001.jpg


I'm not sure what 'pines' these are exactly. I've always assumed they're spruce or larch. However I also noticed quite a few pines that looked exactly the same shape and size but with really smooth, greyer bark that was covered in 'nodules'. I was quite surprised when I pressed on one of the nodules and a pocket of sap burst out like a squeezed spot (lovely smell though)! A picture of the bark on these trees follows:

26d89ac3fae6d30690b38dac5488f8902882e82b_400r_00001.jpg


I'm no tree expert; far from it. Can anyone give me an idea of what the two species are precisely? (I appreciate that's a bit of a test with only pictures of the bark to go by!)
 

ateallthepies

Native
Aug 11, 2011
1,558
0
hertfordshire
The first trees bark looks closest to an Atlas Cedar. Without the leaves or cones it's hard to tell and I may be completely off on this one.

The only tree in my tree guide book that has bark like pic number 2 that is the pacific silver fir and I'm pretty certain this is your second tree.

Bark-grey, slightly corky with white horizontal resin-blisters or rounded warts, but few fissures.

Steve.
 
Last edited:
Thanks for the input Steve.

Having done a bit more delving around online with the pointers from you guys, I think the second tree is definitely a fir. One online ID came back with Spanish Fir, so whether it's Spanish or Pacific I'm not sure!

The first tree I think is just a bog standard spruce. It's a conifer plantation and I believe most of the conifer forests down here in Cornwall are spruce, so it would make sense. Although the wood the shots were taken in belong to the Duchy (ie. Prince Charles) rather than the Forestry Commission.
 

Tadpole

Full Member
Nov 12, 2005
2,842
21
59
Bristol
There are several imported species , the Balsam fir and the Grand fir that have smooth'ish grey bark and horizontal Blisters filled with sticky resin
 

dwardo

Bushcrafter through and through
Aug 30, 2006
6,451
475
46
Nr Chester
Would guess at scots for the top and dug fir for the bottom. Needles and branches would be cool.
 
You can pop these blisters on the fir trees and collect the sap

I did pop the blisters. I pressed on one to see what it was and was quite surprised when it burst out all over me! Make sure you stand to the side when you do it :-D

I did find one later in the walk where the sap in the blisters seemed to be dried up. They were just filled with a white powder. Presumably this would still be useful for firelighting.
 

BCUK Shop

We have a a number of knives, T-Shirts and other items for sale.

SHOP HERE