Pinus sylvestris

[Anne Burgess]

Please forgive me if this question from a newbie is too elementary.

I see a lot of P sylvestris, which I understand to be one of three coniferous species native to Great Britain. Two things puzzle me.

(1) Why does it sometimes appear on monad lists marked as 'alien', even when not marked as planted?

(2) Why is it categorised as NS?

[AndyAmphlett]

Hi Anne,

Not too elementary at all. Actually quite a tricky issue, and one that affects quite a few species.

The native distribution of Scots pine is very restricted, hence the species is listed as Nationally Scarce (as a native). Click on the Maps > New Atlas tab at this link - https://www.brc.ac.uk/plantatlas/plant/pinus-sylvestris - to view the map from Atlas 2000. (Blue dots = native). The native distribution is based on the Caledonian Pinewood Inventory - https://data.gov.uk/dataset/9fe00904-da ... -inventory. This built on the 1959 Steven and Carlisle book 'The Native Pinewoods of Scotland'.

Records from all other hectads are treated as Alien. However, in many instances recorders will not have noted if the trees were planted or self-sown; and of course that may not be apparent in the field.

Hope that helps,

Andy.

[Anne Burgess]

Hi Andy

Thank you. That sort of makes sense. Most of the ones I see are in forestry plantations, as well as all (so far) being outside the native range.

I notice that all of my P sylvestris observations are marked as alien, all except two are marked NS, and the ones in VC94 are marked RPR.

Anne

[AndyAmphlett]

Hi Anne,

Your records of Scots pine on the DDb are marked as alien, based on the distribution in the last BSBI Atlas. VC94 has a Rare Plant Register (RPR) taxon list in the DDb, and this lists Scots Pine. The DDb automatically tags records of taxa listed in a vc's RPR. Most of your records are from Moray (vc95), which doesn't yet have an RPR, hence not tagged.

Hope that helps,

Andy.