“Down to as late as a century ago, the mountains of Cork and Kerry were covered with ancient forests of oak, ash, pine, alder, birch, hazel and yews of immense size, and afforded retreats to wolves, and numerous herds of red deer.”
Owen Connellan, The Annals of Ireland, 1846
Pine, or Pinus sylvestris is also called Scots Pine, bog wood, Baltic pine, Norway pine or Scotch Fir. It’s called péine or péine dearg in Gaeilge and pìn-chrann or craobh-ghiuthais in Scots Gaelic. The pine is generally a cold weather plant as well as evergreen and there are approximately 130 recognized species of pine trees across the world. They are one of the longest living trees of at least a hundred years but many can live for thousands. In fact, one of the oldest tree species, the bristlecone pine has trees upwards of 4,500 years old. While we don’t readily think of the Pine as herbal medicine or food, gram for gram, pine needles have more vitamin c than an orange. Pine has an incomparable magic and ethereal nature about it that is deeply appreciated by many, myself included. All of my experiences with pine have been pleasant, whether using the needles in an infusion to dry a wet cough in the winter, camping and sleeping on their soft needles or simply listening to their branches dance softly above me in the breeze on cool autumn nights. Their presence strikes deep in the hearts that love them.
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