Green giant

The ancients were right to revere the humble pine tree. Even today, this hard-working forest stalwart continues to yield up new treasures to humanity

Think pine and the chances are you’ll picture discount furniture showrooms, country-kitchen dressers or, somewhat less glamorously, the cleaning products on your bathroom shelf. Perhaps you even have a pine tree-shaped air freshener hanging in your car. A little foam one.

Or you might associate pine with Christmas trees (not all of which are pines, of course) or comforting walks in shady forests, where the ground is blanketed with pine needles and curiously tactile cones. Prized for its therapeutic qualities down the centuries, our relationship with these majestic evergreens is rich in mythology too.

Pines are one of the world’s most ancient trees, originating around 150 million years ago. They belong to the genus Pinus, which is part of the Pinaceae family – a grouping of coniferous trees and shrubs that also includes varieties such as spruces, cedars, firs and larches. In total, there are more than 110 different varieties of pine in the world, with one of the most common being the Scots pine.