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Pinus nigra spp. calabrica (Pinaceae)

This centuries-old laricio pine is located in a wood of beech trees, which are the result of an installation of specimens of this species many years ago. The pine (trunk circumference 4.54 m, height 33.5 m) is the most famous tree of Aspromonte, mountain range of the Calabrian Appennines. According to tradition Garibaldi leaned on this tree after being wounded during the conflicts of 1862 between his army and the Piedmontese one. The tree is next to Garibaldi’s mausoleum to make honour to its remembrance.

How to reach it:

Take highway 183 from Gambarie in the directions Sant’ Eufemia d’Aspromonte (RC), after 6 km take the road on the right which leads to the mausoleum.

Botanical characteristics:

Laricio pines are a subspecies of Pinus nigra and are an endemic species of the inferior mountain are of Sila, Aspromonte and Etna where they form pine woods on the southern slopes on siliceous rocks. They are evergreen trees which can reach 45-50 m of height. These trees can survive with small quantities of soil and water at their disposal and are considered a pioneer specie for these characteristics. Their trunk can have no branches for the first 30-40 m, the younger specimens have branches horizontal to the soil, while older trees present curved branches which point upwards. The cortex is formed of greyish plates. Their excellent wood was used to build vessels. Many Laricio pines, which formed thick woods on Sila, were abated during the last century in the war period to get firewood.

Certain trees still show the marks of the incisions made to extract resin, which was used as fuel for torches and as insulation in the production process of white spirit. The pines, which are small, contain pine nuts which are inedible for humans, when they open they look like the pines of larches, and because of this the specie has been given this name.

This post is also available in: Italiano (Italian)