Scots pineGail A Baker, CC BY 4.0
Native, in Scotland · Up to 40 m

Scots pine

Pinus sylvestris · Pinaceae

The trunk is greyish brown and plated low down, turning thin, papery and orange towards the top. The needles come in short, twisted pairs.

Often mistaken for Corsican pine. How to tell them apart →
Know it byNeedle pairsTwo short needles, joined at the base.BarkOrange flakes up top, dark plates at eye level.ConesSmall brown cones all year, yellow pollen cones in spring.

Then check · ShapeAn older tree carries all its foliage in a rounded or flat-topped head on a long, bare, straight trunk.

How to identify a Scots pine

Scots pine: needle pairs
Needle pairs

Scots pine needles grow in twos: short, slightly twisted and greyish green, each pair held together at the base by a tiny papery sheath.

Scots pine: bark
Bark

Low on the trunk the bark is dark and broken into thick plates. Higher up it turns a warm orange and peels away in thin, papery flakes.

Scots pine: conesdawn2022, CC BY 4.0
Cones

The woody cones are small and brown, and empty ones often lie under the tree. In spring, clusters of yellow pollen cones also appear at the base of the new shoots.

Learn the Scots pine in TreelyEvery part through the year, and a short round each day until you know it.Get Treely

Every part, in photographs

Scots pine needle pairs: short greyish green needles in twisted pairs
Needle pairsShort greyish green needles in twisted pairs
Scots pine pollen cones: yellow pollen cones at the shoot basesAnne Thomson, CC BY 4.0
Pollen conesYellow pollen cones at the shoot bases
Scots pine cones: slim greyish brown cones, two ages at oncedawn2022, CC BY 4.0
ConesSlim greyish brown cones, two ages at once
Scots pine bark: greyish brown plates below, orange papery above
BarkGreyish brown plates below, orange papery above
Scots pine shape: long bare trunk under a flat crownGail A Baker, CC BY 4.0
ShapeLong bare trunk under a flat crown

When to look

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In leaf
Flowers
Cones

In leaf: all year · Flowers: April to June · Cones: all year

Every tree on the calendar

Where you’ll find it

Native Caledonian pinewood in the Scottish Highlands, and planted or self-sown almost everywhere else: forestry plantation, lowland heath, sandy and gravelly ground, rocky outcrops. On chalk it turns yellow and struggles.

What it’s mistaken for

Scots pine: needle lengthCorsican pine: needle lengthScots pine or Corsican pine?Both are two-needle pines planted for forestry.Needle length Scots pine: fallen coneNorway spruce: fallen coneScots pine or Norway spruce?Both are big evergreens in the same plantations.Fallen cone

More pines, firs, spruces, larches and cedars

Atlas cedarCedrus atlanticaCedar of LebanonCedrus libaniCorsican pinePinus nigra subsp. laricioDouglas firPseudotsuga menziesiiEuropean larchLarix deciduaGrand firAbies grandisJapanese larchLarix kaempferiNoble firAbies procera
In the app

There’s more of the Scots pine in Treely

  • Every part, through the yearLeaves, bark, buds, flowers and fruit, photographed in every season
  • Its lookalikes, side by sideThe checks that settle it, part by part
  • A short round each dayUntil you know the Scots pine on sight, from any side
  • Name it from a photoA leaf, the bark or a flower, and Treely tells you which tree
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Every fact on this page is checked against the Collins Tree Guide, last in November 2026. Spotted something that looks wrong in front of a real tree? Tell us. How we check.

Photographs: Gail A Baker (CC BY 4.0), steve_mcwilliam (CC0), Leon Cross (CC BY 4.0), dawn2022 (CC BY 4.0), Anne Thomson (CC BY 4.0), bobwardell (CC0), dsykodave (CC0). With thanks to everyone who shares their photographs on iNaturalist and Wikimedia Commons.