Pinaceae Inactive

The pine tree family in Belgium:
In this project we will document the Pinaceae. These are large coniferous trees with needle-like leaves, typical reproductive organs called cones, and often long straight trunks. They grow rapidly and so are important timber trees. Only Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) is native to Belgium; other species, present at some point during the ice ages, eventually got confined to higher latitudes and altitudes across Europe as the climate changed. The majority of species now present in Belgium have been introduced for forestry. Several have since naturalized and some can become problematic. The tallest tree in Belgium belongs to the Pinaceae, a Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) at Arboretum Saint-Michel in Saint-Hubert.

The Belgian Herbarium:
The Botanic Garden Meise holds the largest herbarium collection of Belgian plant specimens. Each of these herbarium specimens has a label with valuable information such as the plant’s identification, and when, where, and who collected the plant. These specimens can be used in many domains of research, such as conservation, evolution, ecology and systematics. These data help us to better understand the plants of Belgium, their history and that of people who collected them. There are about 200,000 specimens in the Belgian Herbarium of the Botanic Garden Meise and we want to document them all! These data will then be made available online at www.botanicalcollections.be.

Keywords (Latin):
Belgium, Pinaceae, Arbores, Hortus Botanicus Meise, Botanica.