Pinus koraiensis
Origin: Russia
Improvement status: Wild
Seeds per packet: ~10
BOTANICAL SAMPLE - NOT GERMINATION TESTED
Life cycle: Perennial
Korean Pine, sometimes called Chinese Pinenut, is a slow-growing, long-lived pine tree native to northeastern Asia, including Manchuria, far eastern Russia, Korea, and central Japan. Trees can reach 150 feet tall with a trunk diameter of 6 feet across. The delicious seeds are extensively grown and wild-harvested across the region, particularly in Manchuria, and sold as pine nuts. In fact, most of the pine nuts sold in the US — though most people assume they are Italian — are actually Chinese-grown Korean pine nuts. The tree is also a popular ornamental in cold climates, capable of tolerating severe winter cold (down to about -58°F!). Its wood, similar to white pine lumber, is used for construction, furniture, musical instruments, boats, flooring, plywood, paper, and wood pulp.
The seeds of Korean pine, in addition to their culinary and nutritional attributes, are considered to have many medicinal properties too, including as a galactagogue (to promote milk flow in nursing) and as an analgesic and antibacterial. Ancient Chinese authors referred to it as "longevity fruit" (長壽果). The nut oil contains 11.5% of the unusual and medicinal fatty acid pinolenic acid (known to have anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant, anti-cancer, and immunomodulatory effects, while also enhancing insulin sensitivity). The needles, high in Vitamin C, are also used to make medicinal teas, syrups, and honeys. Even the Korean pine's pollen is used as a food and medicine, and Chinese scientists have documented more than 200 nutritional components and bioactive substances in it, including some with anti-fatigue, anti-aging, blood lipid regulating, and immunity-enhancing effects.
Our Russia-grown seed came to us from the good folks at Sheffield's Seeds in Locke, NY.
GROWING TIPS: Warm-moist stratify for 60 days, then cold-moist stratify for 90 days. Seeds should sprout within a couple weeks following such treatment. They may take 20 years, or even longer, to start bearing nuts.
NOTE: The photo of the cracked open pine nuts comes from user MPF and is shared
under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. The rest are in the public domain.
