NAVIGATION: From the southside of the Engineering Building, walk west to the cross walk. Cross to the south and walk along the west side of Old Main. Here you will find the next plant featured on the tour - the Aleppo pine.
Pinus halepensis, better known as the Jerusalem or Aleppo Pine, is an evergreen coniferous (cone-bearing) tree, named after Aleppo and the surrounding province of Haleb Syria, where it is believed to have first been documented. The cones take about 3 years to fully mature after they’ve been pollinated and can be found on the branches for even longer after full maturation. While the Aleppo pine can be identified by it’s characteristic “Christmas Tree” shaped canopy in its younger years, after complete maturation, it loses that shape, distinguishing it from the closely related Pinus eldarica.
Aleppo Pine has historically been used for resin production, fuel wood, and even apiculture, better known as “beekeeping”. Interestingly, because of the economical benefits of resin production that the trees provide, forests with Aleppo Pine have been found to be more ecologically healthy and have lower fire incidents because of this mutual relationship between the communities and the Aleppo Pine populations. Medicinally, needles of Pinus halepensis have been used to create essential oil extracts, which are rich in the medicinal, turpentine. This compound can be used for joint, muscle and tooth pain, and also helps with chest congestion when inhaled. Next time you try to identify an Aleppo Pine, look for the multi-branched structure and the rounded forms on the top of the 50-80 ft fully mature canopy.