Pinus kesiya

Pinus kesiya
Pinus kesiya forest in Sagada, Luzon, Philippines
Foliage and cones (with two long-tailed minivets), Doi Pha Hom Pok National Park, Thailand
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Gymnospermae
Division: Pinophyta
Class: Pinopsida
Order: Pinales
Family: Pinaceae
Genus: Pinus
Subgenus: P. subg. Pinus
Section: P. sect. Pinus
Subsection: P. subsect. Pinus
Species:
P. kesiya
Binomial name
Pinus kesiya
Royle ex Gordon (1840)
Varieties

See text

Pinus kesiya (Khasi pine or Benguet pine) is one of the most widely distributed pines in southeast Asia. Its range extends south and east from the Khasi Hills in the northeast Indian state of Meghalaya, to Burma, northern Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, southernmost China, Vietnam, and the Philippines. It is an important plantation species elsewhere in the world, including in southern Africa and South America.

The common name "Khasi pine" is from the Khasi hills in India, and "Benguet pine" is from the landlocked province of Benguet in Luzon, Philippines, where it is the dominant species of the Luzon tropical pine forests (known as saleng in Ilocano). The Benguet pine is sometimes treated as a separate species, Pinus insularis; however, the current opinion is to treat this as conspecific with P. kesiya var. langbianensis. The city of Baguio is nicknamed "The City of Pines", as it is noted for large stands of this tree.