Swiss stone pine

About

The Swiss stone pine, which is referred to as cedar in the Carpathians, is a relict tree of the high mountains. Its main range lies in the Alps, with a smaller secondary range in the Tatras and Carpathians. The Ukrainian Carpathians represent the eastern limit of the species' distribution. Here, the cedar can be found in the Gorgany, on the Świdowiec, and in the Chornohora, near the upper tree line, among spruces and junipers.

The tree reaches up to 25 m in height, although the largest Carpathian cedars in the Gorgany reserve exceed 30 m. The crown is dense, often irregular and sprawling in old trees. The needles are soft, bluish-green, 5–12 cm long, and it is the five needles in a bundle that distinguish the cedar from common pines and junipers, which have two. The cones are egg-shaped, purple-brown, do not open, and the seeds are wingless nuts. The cedar lives very long, up to a thousand years, and grows slowly.

The seeds of the cedar are dispersed by the nutcracker, a bird of the crow family. It breaks open the cones and hides the nuts in the ground and moss, and those that remain unfound germinate. Without the nutcracker, the regeneration of cedar forests would be significantly more difficult.

The Swiss stone pine is listed in the Red Book of Ukraine with the status of 'vulnerable'. Collecting cones and nuts, breaking branches, and digging up young trees is prohibited. The cedar is protected in the Carpathian Biosphere Reserve, the Gorgany Nature Reserve, and in the protected areas 'Kedryn' and 'Yaykivskyi'; the latter contains the largest area of natural cedar forests. Enjoy the cedars from marked trails.

Where in the Carpathians

The map shows where naturalists recorded the species (GBIF, CC0 and CC BY records), not every place it lives. The Ukrainian Carpathians are less studied, so a blank area does not mean the species is absent. For rare and vulnerable species the map is deliberately coarse (hexagons of ~250 km² or more) so that it never points to dens, nests or growing sites.

Countries

Slovakia · Ukraine · Poland · Romania

Mountain ranges

High Tatras, Gorgany, Western Tatras, Belianske Tatras, Low Tatras, Pokuttia-Bukovina Carpathians, Retezat Mountains, Chornohora, Slovak Ore Mountains, Slovak Central Mountains

Altitude belts

Conifer forests (1200–1600 m) · Subalpine belt (1600–1900 m)

When to see it

From naturalists’ observations in the Carpathians (iNaturalist, research grade): the darker the cell, the more often the species is seen that month.

Protection and rules

Listed in the Red Book of Ukraine (vulnerable). Collecting cones, breaking branches, and digging up trees is prohibited.

Admire, don’t pick: plants listed in the Red Data Book of Ukraine — and any plants in nature reserves and strictly protected zones of national parks — must not be collected.

Red Data Book of Ukraine

FAQ