pine
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pine,
common name for members of the Pinaceae, a family of resinous woody trees with needlelike, usually evergreen leaves. The Pinaceae reproduce by means of cones (see coneconeor strobilus
, in botany, reproductive organ of the gymnosperms (the conifers, cycads, and ginkgoes). Like the flower in the angiosperms (flowering plants), the cone is actually a highly modified branch; unlike the flower, it does not have sepals or petals.
..... Click the link for more information. ) rather than flowers and many have winged seeds, suitable for wind distribution. They are found chiefly in north temperate regions, where they form vast forests. The family was apparently more abundant in the mid-Cenozoic era, but it has maintained its population better than other gymnosperms because the trees are more adaptable to cold, dry climates; the reduced leaf surface and deep-set stomata minimize loss of water by transpiration. The family is the largest and most important of the conifers, providing naval stores, paper pulp, and more lumber by far than any other family. In some localities almost pure stands occur, permitting economical lumbering of large numbers of a given type of tree. Of the family's nine genera four are widely dispersed throughout North America and the Old World. Members of all nine genera are represented in horticulture as introduced timber trees or ornamentals. The so-called kauri pine, although pinelike in appearance, belongs to another family (see monkey-puzzle treemonkey-puzzle tree,
evergreen tree (Araucaria araucana) native to Chile and widely cultivated elsewhere as an ornamental. The symmetrical branches have an unusual angularity and are completely covered by the stiff, overlapping leaves.
..... Click the link for more information. ).
The True Pines
Pinus (the true pines) is the largest and most widespread genus, characteristic of many north temperate regions (except the plains), especially at lower altitudes, and in a few tropical regions, notably on mountain slopes. Species of Pinus can often be identified by the leaf arrangement, one needle or clusters of from two to five (in all cases enclosed in a sheath at the base) being consistently produced by each type. Many of the pines are economically valuable; from them come the naval stores: pitch (see tar and pitchtar and pitch,
viscous, dark-brown to black substances obtained by the destructive distillation of coal, wood, petroleum, peat, and certain other organic materials. The heating or partial burning of wood to make charcoal yields tar as a byproduct and is an ancient method for the
..... Click the link for more information. ), turpentineturpentine,
yellow to brown semifluid oleoresin exuded from the sapwood of pines, firs, and other conifers. It is made up of two principal components, an essential oil and a type of resin that is called rosin.
..... Click the link for more information. , and rosinrosin
or colophony,
hard, brittle, translucent resin, obtained as a solid residue from crude turpentine. Usually pale yellow or amber, its color may vary from brownish-black to transparent depending on the nature of the source of the crude turpentine.
..... Click the link for more information. . Drying and nondrying oils are also made from the seeds of some pines. Several Mediterranean and American species yield edible seeds (see pine nutpine nut
or piñon
, edible seed of various species of pine trees. Among the North American species that bear such edible seeds are the nut pines or piñons, Pinus edulis and P. monophylla, and the Digger pine, P.
..... Click the link for more information. ).
The ponderosa pine or western yellow pine (P. ponderosa), is a hard pine second only to the Douglas fir as a commercial timber tree in North America. The white pine (P. strobus) has straight-grained soft wood with little resin, used especially for interior trim and cabinetwork. It once grew densely from Newfoundland to Manitoba and over much of the E United States westward to Minnesota, but constant felling and attacks of white-pine blister rustrust,
in botany, name for various parasitic fungi of the order Uredinales and for the diseases of plants that they cause. Rusts form reddish patches of spores on the host plant. About 7,000 species are known.
..... Click the link for more information. have greatly depleted the stands, especially in the NE United States. The Norway pine, or red pine, (P. resinosa) has a similar range and has also suffered from overcutting. Its wood is somewhat heavier and is suitable for general construction. The Norway pine is frequently used in reforestation programs. The jack pine (P. banksiana), the most northern of the American species, thrives on poor and sandy soils and is much used to colonize areas where more valuable species may later be introduced. Although the trunk is often gnarled, making it unsuitable for good lumber, it supplies much pulpwood and is used locally for rough lumber, fuel, and crating. The Virginia pine (P. virginiana) of the Appalachians and the Piedmont is popular regionally as a Christmas tree. The longleaf pine, or Southern yellow pine (P. palustris) has needles that reach 18 in. (45 cm) in length and have been prized for making baskets and as mulch. Its highly resinous wood is used for heavy construction and as a major source of naval stores and pulpwood. It formerly was the keystone of forests that formed a savannalike ecosystem in much of the S United States. The longleaf pine and the faster growing slash pine (P. caribaea) of the same region have gained importance as northern pine stands have been depleted. The latter is widely cultivated in tropical areas with sandy soils. The Scotch pine (P. sylvestris), ranging from Scotland to Siberia and popular as a Christmas tree in the United States, is one of the most valuable timber trees of Europe. The cluster pine (P. pinaster), widespread in S France and in Spain, is the chief European source of turpentine. The Monterey pine (P. radiata) of California has been widely planted in New Zealand and Chile for reforestation.
Other Species in the Pine Family
Abies (firfir,
any tree of the genus Abies of the family Pinaceae (pine family), tall pyramidal evergreen conifers characterized by short, flat, stemless needles and erect cylindrical cones that shed their scales rather than dropping off the tree whole.
..... Click the link for more information. ) species are usually of more northern distribution and found at higher altitudes. Sap-filled "blisters" on the trunks of some species provide balsambalsam
, fragrant resin obtained from various trees. The true balsams are semisolid and insoluble in water, but they are soluble in alcohol and partly so in hydrocarbons.
..... Click the link for more information. . Larix (larchlarch,
any tree of the genus Larix, conifers of the family Pinaceae (pine family), which are unusual in that they are not evergreen. The various species are widely distributed in the Northern Hemisphere.
..... Click the link for more information. ) and Pseudolarix (golden larch, of China) are the only two deciduous genera. Picea (sprucespruce,
any plant of the genus Picea, evergreen trees or shrubs of the family Pinaceae (pine family) widely distributed in the Northern Hemisphere. The needles are angular in cross section, rather than flattened as in the related hemlocks and firs. The Norway spruce (P.
..... Click the link for more information. ) is the world's most important source of paper. Cedrus (cedarcedar,
common name for a number of trees, mostly coniferous evergreens. The true cedars belong to the small genus Cedrus of the family Pinaceae (pine family). All are native to the Old World from the Mediterranean to the Himalayas, although several are cultivated
..... Click the link for more information. ) ranges from the Mediterranean area to the Himalayas; Keteleeria is restricted to E and SE Asia.
Tsuga (hemlockhemlock,
any tree of the genus Tsuga, coniferous evergreens of the family Pinaceae (pine family) native to North America and Asia. The common hemlock of E North America is the eastern hemlock, T.
..... Click the link for more information. ) and Pseudotsuga are native only to North America and E Asia. Pseudotsuga menziesii (the Douglas fir) of W North America, one of the tallest trees known (up to 385 ft/117 m) and the leading timber-producing tree of the continent, is carefully controlled by forestryforestry,
the management of forest lands for wood, water, wildlife, forage, and recreation. Because the major economic importance of the forest lies in wood and wood products, forestry has been chiefly concerned with timber management, especially reforestation, maintenance of
..... Click the link for more information. measures. Its wood, usually hard and strong, is of great commercial importance for construction; it is also commonly used as a Christmas tree in the United States. Named for David Douglas, the tree has many local names, e.g., Douglas spruce, Oregon pine, red fir, and yellow fir.
Classification
Pines are classified in the division PinophytaPinophyta
, division of the plant kingdom consisting of those organisms commonly called gymnosperms. The gymnosperms, a group that includes the pine, have stems, roots and leaves, and vascular, or conducting, tissue (xylem and phloem).
..... Click the link for more information. , class Pinopsida, order Coniferales.
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The guiding principles for Pine's user-interface were: careful limitation of features, one-character mnemonic commands, always-present command menus, immediate user feedback, and high tolerance for user mistakes. It is intended that Pine can be learned by exploration rather than reading manuals. Feedback from the University of Washington community and a growing number of Internet sites has been encouraging.
Pine's message composition editor, Pico, is also available as a separate stand-alone program. Pico is a very simple and easy-to-use text editor offering paragraph justification, cut/paste, and a spelling checker.
Pine features on-line help; a message index showing a message summary which includes the status, sender, size, date and subject of messages; commands to view and process messages; a message composer with easy-to-use editor and spelling checker; an address book for saving long complex addresses and personal distribution lists under a nickname; message attachments via Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions; folder management commands for creating, deleting, listing, or renaming message folders; access to remote message folders and archives via the Interactive Mail Access Protocol as defined in RFC 1176; access to Usenet news via NNTP or IMAP.
Pine, Pico and UW's IMAP server are copyrighted but freely available.
Unix Pine runs on Ultrix, AIX, SunOS, SVR4 and PTX. PC-Pine is available for Packet Driver, Novell LWP, FTP PC/TCP and Sun PC/NFS. A Microsoft Windows/WinSock version is planned, as are extensions for off-line use.
Pine was originally based on Elm but has evolved much since ("Pine Is No-longer Elm"). Pine is the work of Mike Seibel, Mark Crispin, Steve Hubert, Sheryl Erez, David Miller and Laurence Lundblade (now at Virginia Tech) at the University of Washington Office of Computing and Communications.
ftp://ftp.cac.washington.edu/mail/pine.tar.Z. telnet://demo.cac.washington.edu/ (login as "pinedemo").
E-mail: <pine@cac.washington.edu>, <pine-info-request@cac.washington.edu>, <pine-announce-request@cac.washington.edu>.