Ellepo Pine or Not

[alpineart]

This might throw a spanner in the works , several times i have seen tree's at RSL's and its amazing to see these plaques stating the name of the tree .

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Ellepo - Pinus Brutia also knows as the Turkish Pine -Brutian Pine . It is often called Eleppo - Pinus Halepensis by many as the "Lone Pine" which pine is it or is not it . Numerous generations of my family have fought under the Australian Flag and i'm blessed all returned ,so no dis-respect is meant or implied . Which is the True Ellepo the Brutia or the Helapensis and which is the true "Lone Pine"

Cheers Alpineart

[kcpoole]

Gawd Who knows!
The original tree was blown to smithereens 100 years ago in the most disgusting conditions for me to live and die in.

A digger brought back a cone from ( supposedly ) the original "Lone Pine" ( halapensis) that a seed ws germinated from and planted in the memorial gardens in Melbourne in the 30's. From that tree the RSL produce new trees annually so we can assume the provenance of them is as good as the original cone?

http://www.rlcnews.org.au/stories/clubs ... ves_on.php

Ken

[shibui]

There is a story that there was a mix up in id. Both species grow at Gallipoli. I heard that the cone in question was collected from a fallen branch or under a tree rather than from the tree itself and it turned out that it was not actually from the 'lone pine' but actually came from another tree somewhere in the vicinity. This is what has caused the problem with ID. Not sure of the truth or otherwise of this story.
The RSL trees in Aus and lots that have been propagated from it by both seed and cuttings and spread around many memorial gardens, botanic gardens and school grounds are descended from the seed from the cone brought back but the question remains as to whether these trees are really from the original 'lone pine' or from another tree at Gallipoli, in Turkey or elsewhere????

[Jow]

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lone_Pine_(tree)

[alpineart]

Hi Guys , thanks for the replies . It seems like there is still confusion as to the correct tree planted at some RSL's . Thanks Jow for the link , very interestin read for those who care to take a look . The Brutia here is only one of a handful i have seen , most are of a different species . Wangaratta has a Helapensis at the gardens so i guess some bureaucrat has got it wrong . While the bark on a Brutia is less than impressive i have collected a few cones to try out .

Cheers Alpine

[soda]

The official supplier of seedlings to schools and RSL's sends out Aleppo's (Halepensis), which are grown from material from the original trees. Two soldiers bought back cones independently so I suppose there is a chance there could well be two species at play. The mud trenches were lined with branches etc, so its my view that the cones most likely came from trench material and not the tree that stood alone. The free standing tree does make for a better story though, but what soldier would have risked that danger? So it comes down to a question of whats the most sacred, what the soldiers bought home or what the tree species is that forged the name "lone pine". And at any rate as the stand alone tree was destroyed in the battle, and seemingly on the turkish side, how can anyone claim to know exactly what species it was?