Typical tree of the Northern hemisphere. Native to Europe and Asia.

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Scotch or Scots Pine is a common species in its huge native range from Scotland and Norway to Spain to western Asia to northeast Siberia. Its needles are sort of twisted, about 1 to 4 inches long, in clusters of 2, and usually bluish-green, but regular bright green is possible, stiff and sort of prickly. It has pretty bark that is thin, papery, flaking, and orange when younger that develops into gray-brown scaly plates when older. It grows like most pines of about 1.5 feet/year and I think that it lives about 100 to 150 years. It is still commonly grown as a Christmas tree in the US; though Balsam & Frasier Firs are used more. It was commonly planted into landscapes in the Chicago, Illinois area until the 1980's, when Pinewood Nematode started to kill off many. There still are some around in that area. Some other problems of pine moths, pine bark beetles, pine needle cast diseases, etc. can give Scots Pine a hard time in eastern North America. It is still easy to find some growing in various parts of the Midwest, Mid-Atlantic, and Northeastern US. Morton Arboretum in Lisle, IL is not recommending it anymore for landscapes because of some of the problems mentioned. It is a nice, pretty pine tree. It is similar to the Jack and Virginia Pines of eastern North America. In New England and some other northern regions of sandy, acid soils, it has escaped cultivation some.

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