[ID] Pinus

[ness]

Hello i was wondering if aybody might help me.
I have a pine that is being trained into bonsai and am not sure of it's exact species.
I have tried to show as many distinguishing features as i could.
Please help!

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[dragon]

to me it looks radiata but not sure without smelling the needles, and can you please get a close up of the one set of needles please then we might be able to help a bit more
cheers dean

[ness]

Yeah Dean, the needles smell only lightly of pine when crushed. i've added a few more photos to help

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[ness]

Needle length varies from 6 - 10 cm throughout old growth for a tree that is 100cm tall.

[Craig]

looks like black pine ,

Ness, where did you collect or buy it from, the more info like that, the easier someone may be able to ID the tree

[ness]

Hey Craig, the pine was purchased some years ago at a bonsai nursury in campbellfield Victoria.
They did originally state it to be a black pine, but it characteristics such as the long thin softish needles and low pine odor have me stumped!
Could the warm Australian temperature be affecting the needle length and overall unconventional appearance?
By the way, no attempts at needle reduction and bud ramification have ever been attempted up until just this year.

[LLK]

It's a 2 needle pine, so not a P. radiata. With that loose branching and scaly bark, my guess would be Japanese red pine, Pinus densiflora. Worth a check -- see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_red_pine
I had the same happening, years ago, when I was sold a so-called Japanese black pine which proved to be a JRP. Anyway, good luck!

Lisa

[ness]

Thanks Lisa,
I've been leaning towards the Japanese red pine theory as well.
You are right about the sellers passing off juvinile reds as blacks.
With experience I have grown suspicious of the actual species of pine I have.
I never felt comfortable with it's original aleged species description I was given when the plant was purchased :/
Thanks again for all the great feed back guys and girls!
Does anyone have any other hypotheses on the red pine theory?

[Craig]

Ness, red pine on the left , any help ?

[ness]

Yep Craig, it deffinetly looks like the pine on the left.
Same needle coloring, and length as my own.
It's looking pretty much deffinetly to be a Japanese red pine!
Now I need to work on some suitable styles for that species of tree.
Thanks again for all your help bonsai people!
My first venture into starting a forum topic appears to be a success!