Due to their remarkable characteristics, coniferous wood building materials are actively used for the construction of houses, baths, gazebos and other objects. They are also used for interior decoration, for example, in the form of lining. However coniferous trees are different, and now we will consider how to distinguish pine from cedar.

What's the difference?

You should start with the fact that cedar materials are noticeably more expensive than pine counterparts. And this gives some scope for fraud: under the guise of expensive cedar timber, they can sell you pine timber.

The differences between pine and cedar, which determine the high cost of the latter, are as follows:

  • less attractive appearance;
  • Great tendency to warp and shrinkage;
  • Higher likelihood of cracking;
  • Less durability;
  • different microclimate.

The last point should be given special attention, since this is an important factor in the fact that cedar belongs to the “noble” wood. It contains a whole range of useful substances that are gradually released into the surrounding space, having a positive effect on a person.

Use in construction and decoration

The structural properties of cedar and pine are largely similar, with the exception of the above-mentioned nuances. This is not surprising, because what we call "Siberian cedar" belongs to the genus of pines and is a cedar pine.

The use of cedar as structural material(for the construction of load-bearing walls or a log house) is not widely used due to the high cost. However, as we have already noted, there are some advantages in the construction of cedar, plus an important one in Lately prestige factor.

But from the point of view of interior decoration, the positive properties of cedar become more pronounced, mainly due to the ability to maintain its appearance for a long time and have a beneficial effect on health.

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Differences

The main difference between cedar and pine lies in the habitat. Pine grows almost everywhere, but cedar does not. Besides:

  1. The average cedar is five meters higher than the same pine.
  2. The life span of cedar is also longer.
  3. Flowering of cedar occurs a little later than pine.
  4. There are more deep furrows on the pine bark and they appear earlier.
  5. And here is how to distinguish cedar from pine by needles: in the first they grow in bunches of five, and in pine in pairs. Thus, the cedar looks more "fluffy".
  6. There are also differences in the shape of the cones. Plus, you can eat pine nuts, but this is not practiced with regard to pine nuts.

And if there is already a bar or lining in front of me?

The first option on how to distinguish cedar from pine in a log house is color. Cedar has a pleasant pinkish tint that hardly fades over time. Pine is a little grayish and the color of its wood quickly fades. If we are talking about logs, it will be especially noticeable at the ends.

The place where there was a knot will be noticeably reddish on the cedar material, but not on the pine.

Cedar wood has a different smell, due to differences in chemical composition pitches. Moreover, the smell of cedar lasts for a long time, even on the processed material.

Also, cedar is slightly lighter than pine, and its wood has a more uniform and even structure.

In the flora of Russia there are coniferous trees, which are commonly called cedars. The "cedar" Siberian will be discussed below. The word "cedar" is in quotation marks for a reason - in fact, this breed belongs to the botanical genus pine - Pinus, while real cedars belong to a completely different genus - Cedrus. In our country, in the wild state, there are no true cedars at all, and in landscaping they have a very limited use - only on Black Sea coast Krasnodar Territory because they are very thermophilic.

Botanical characteristics of Siberian pine

Siberian pine or cedar or Siberian cedar- Pinus sibirica Du Tour - large evergreen tree from the pine family (Pinoceae) 20-25 (up to 35) m high, with a dense crown. Trunk up to 1.5 m in diameter, with brownish-gray furrowed bark. In young trees, the bark is lighter and smoother. Shoots of two types: elongated and shortened. Young elongated shoots are reddish due to pubescence. root system well developed, consists of taproot and strong lateral roots.
The leaves are arranged on shoots in bunches of 5 needles (an important feature that distinguishes Siberian pine from ordinary pine, which has only 2 leaves in a bunch). Leaves-needles are narrowly linear, needle-shaped, triangular in cross section, from 5 to 12 cm long, dark green, with bluish stripes on the sides, formed by rows of stomata. The needle lives up to 6 years.
Plants are monoecious, that is, both male and female generative organs, collected in spikelets, develop on one individual. Pine, like all gymnosperms, does not have flowers and real fruits. Male spikelets are red, located at the base of elongated shoots, and female spikelets are purple, sitting 2-4 in their upper part. The pollen disperses in June, after which the male spikelets fall off. Fertilized ovules develop into seeds, and the entire female spikelet is transformed into a kind of organ - a cone, consisting of an axis to which woody light brown scales are attached.
In the axils of each scale, 2 seeds are placed. They mature in September of the year following fertilization. Mature cones are 5-8 (up to 13) cm long and 3-5 (up to 8) cm in diameter, do not open when ripe, but fall off entirely, along with the seeds. The seeds are dark brown, 10-12 cm long, they are called "pine nuts". The seeds are spread by the nutcracker, chipmunk, squirrel, sable and other forest animals. The yield of pine nuts in the most productive pine forests reaches 640 kg/ha. Abundant seed crops are repeated at significant intervals - 3-10 years.
Seeds during germination bring to the surface 10 large cotyledons. Cedar pine grows slowly throughout its life. Trees for the first time begin to produce seeds from 25-30 years old, if they grow in freedom, and in plantations - not earlier than from 50 years old. Siberian pine lives up to 500 (according to some sources up to 850) years.

Distribution of Siberian pine

Siberian pine range lies almost entirely within Russia, only the southern edge enters Mongolia and Kazakhstan. This timber species grows in about a third of the entire forest zone of our country. Cedar forests and forests with a noticeable participation of Siberian pine occupy 40,600,000 ha. They are distributed in the mountains and on the plains of the northeastern regions of European Russia (from the upper reaches of the Vychegda River), almost throughout Western and Eastern Siberia. These forests are called dark coniferous taiga.
Siberian pine is shade-tolerant, frost-resistant, demanding on soil and air moisture. It prefers loam and sandy loam, although it can grow on rocks and even on sphagnum bogs.

Other related species of Siberian pine

The Siberian pine is very close to the dwarf pine - Pinus pumila (Pall.) Regel, which is often called the Siberian dwarf pine. Many botanists, until recently, even considered elfin cedar a kind of Siberian pine.
Cedar elfin is a coniferous evergreen shrub with a curved trunk and creeping branches that rise above the soil surface by only 0.5-2 m. Less often it is a small tree 4-7 m high. Young shoots are densely pubescent with yellow-brown hairs. Needles 4-8 cm long, bluish-green, hard, triangular, with small notches along the edges, stay on the branches for 2-4 years.
Dwarf cones are formed in the same way as those of Siberian pine, they are extremely similar, but somewhat smaller - 3.5-4.5 cm long and 2.5-3 cm in diameter. They also develop two summer seasons. The cones of the first year, when the seeds have not yet grown in them, are reddish-purple, in the second year they turn brown and by the time the seeds ripen, that is, by autumn, they become dark brown. Seeds (they are also called "pine nuts") are about 8 mm long and 4-6 mm in diameter.
Siberian dwarf pine is distributed throughout Eastern Siberia and the Far East, from Tunkinsky Goltsy and Western Baikal in the south-west of the range to the river basin. Anadyr in Chukotka, as well as in Kamchatka, Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands, in the Amur Region, Khabarovsk and Primorsky Territories. total area, occupied by thickets of elfin in our country, exceeds 24 million hectares. Outside of Russia, it is known in Japan, Korea, China, Mongolia.
Dwarf forms continuous, difficult to pass thickets on upper bound forests. It has a wide ecological amplitude, due to which it successfully grows in a variety of (often harsh) conditions - from sand deposits of river valleys and sea coasts to peat bogs on permafrost and stone placers in high mountains. Able to form adventitious roots on branches in contact with the soil, and to give layering.
Like Siberian pine, dwarf seeds are called nuts in everyday life. They are a little smaller, but in terms of taste and nutritional qualities they are also rich in protein, sugars and the most valuable oil, which is of nutritional and technical importance. The yield of nuts in dense thickets reaches 200 kg/ha. Of these, you can prepare "nut milk" - a delicious nutritious drink containing vitamin B. The value of elfin pine nuts is especially high for regions where there are no other plants that produce edible nuts.
Wood is a very high-calorie fuel, often the only one for the inhabitants of the north-east of Russia. Among the indigenous population, infusions, decoctions and extracts from pine needles and dwarf twigs have long been considered the strongest antiscorbutic agent. Elf is an excellent shelter and an important food source for many valuable fur animals: squirrels, ermine, sable, etc.
In folk medicine, the coniferous branches of the dwarf tree (“legs”) were used for therapeutic baths for rheumatism.

Economic use of Siberian pine

Siberian pine is one of the most economically valuable conifers. Its wood is soft, light, at the same time dense, strong enough. She is pinkish yellow beautiful texture, with a pleasant smell, easy to process, well polished. Cedar pine wood is valued as a building and ornamental material. It is used in housing construction for the construction of walls of houses and roofs, as well as for interior decoration. They make pencils out of it. Due to its good acoustic properties, Siberian pine wood is used for the manufacture of musical instruments.
However, sawing cedar pine for the sake of wood is an act close to a crime. This tree is one of the most valuable wild food plants. Seeds (“pine nuts”) are used for food, which combine excellent taste and nutritional qualities. Nut kernels contain fatty oil (up to 28%), proteins (more than 8%), starch (up to 5.5%), vitamins A, B, E, phosphorus salts, trace elements (manganese, copper, zinc, iodine). Nuts are consumed fresh, used for squeezing oil from them by cold pressing, close in quality to the best varieties almond and Provencal, which has found wide demand not only in cooking, but also in the canning industry and medicine. Nut cakes are used in the confectionery industry in the manufacture of cakes, pastries, halva and other products.
Lower quality oil, obtained from pine nuts by hot pressing or solvent extraction, is mainly used for technical goals: it is used in soap making, in the production of varnishes and varnishes. After additional refining, this oil is also suitable for food consumption.
Found practical use and shells of pine nuts. Activated carbon is made from it, the adsorption capacity of which is 2 times higher than that of birch, which is considered (and quite rightly) the best. A good brown skin dye is obtained from the shell.

Medicinal value of Siberian pine and methods of therapeutic use

Medicinal use have different parts of the Siberian pine. Its needles contain valuable essential oil, vitamin C, carotene (provitamin A), so the infusion of needles or "cedar feet" (young sprigs) is used as an antiscorbutic agent. The resin from the trunks is rightly called "resin" for its ability to heal wounds. In Rus', resin was used to treat purulent wounds, ulcers, boils, burns and cuts.
Experts say that even a neglected gastric ulcer can be quickly cured with life-giving resin. The viscous amber resin is kept in the mouth, licked off with the tongue, or water infusions are made. Bleeding wounds filled with sap are healed and begin to heal already on the second day. But an ulcer is also a wound, only on the wall of the stomach.

The resin of the cedar tree is very drying.
If we anoint our face with that resin, a sign happens on the cream after smallpox,
and tacos not signs are smoothed and the face will become clean.

The resin is mixed with fresh honey and diluted with some kind of drink, and a little salt is mixed with that, and then we give drink to those who are stung by creeping reptiles, and the disease from the stomach (stomach) will come out and the splenic ulcers will heal.

Cedar nuts are of great value, and not only as a delicious product.
At present, scientists have found that pine nuts contain various substances that help maintain high performance, improve blood composition, increase human body, treatment of tuberculosis, kidney diseases, anemia.
From pine nut shells, Russian manufacturers produce alcohol solutions that are used in the treatment of arthritis, gout, articular rheumatism, diseases of the stomach, liver, as well as leukemia, hemorrhoids. In addition, this effective remedy for cleaning the body, removing radionuclides.
Pine nut oil, in addition to being highly nutritious, dietary, healing, also has cosmetic properties. It perfectly combines environmentally friendly fats, carbohydrates and a complex of vitamins, as well as microelements. All this has a positive effect on human well-being and life expectancy.

cedar nuts- a medicine known since antiquity. Back in the 18th century Academician P.S. Pallas, who visited Siberia with an expedition, noted that pine nuts restore male strength, restore youth to a person. The most popular milk is made from nucleoli: they are ground, gradually adding water. A fragrant white emulsion is formed, which significantly raises the tone, causing a surge of strength and vigor. You can drink 2-3 tea cups a day.

A decoction and tincture of pine nut shells are used for hemorrhoids, uterine bleeding and blood diseases, especially leukemia.

The shells of naturally dried nuts are poured into a dark bottle to the level of the “shoulders”, without tamping, pour vodka up to the cork and insist in a warm, dark place for 8-10 days. Take 1 teaspoon before meals 3-4 times a day.
Cedar is ruled by the Sun and is healing for those born under the sign of Leo.

Clear January day. The snow sparkling under the sun blinds the eyes, and there is such silence around, as if the whole world has plunged into a heavy deep sleep. And this dream is guarded by formidable warriors - majestic Siberian cedars. With an epic cliff rising in the middle of a green ocean, at the sight of which “the hat itself falls off the head from reverence,” Leonid Maksimovich Leonov compared this amazing tree. Its scientific name is siberian pine. Real cedars - Lebanese, Himalayan, Atlas, Cypriot - grow in North Africa, the Himalayas, the Middle East and the island of Cyprus. These are powerful trees with very valuable, pleasantly smelling wood, on the shortened shoots of which the needles are located in 30-40 pieces. Why is Siberian pine often called cedar? Yes, for a special position, longevity, impressive size, fragrant wood: the pioneers of Siberia and North America called any tree with pleasantly smelling wood in the simplicity of the heart called cedar.
A contemporary of A. S. Pushkin, a connoisseur of Siberian forests, naturalist and local historian V. Dmitriev, in the article “Siberian Cedar” in 1818, enthusiastically wrote: “Glory, places beloved by the sun, be proud, Lebanese heights, of your cedars: not seeing you in my fatherland on mother earth, which belongs to Russia, I don’t even dare to magnify you, but in my eyes the shady cedar of rich Siberia will not yield to you in its beauties and will replace you for me. What majesty is in the posture of this tree, what a sacred shadow in the density of its forests! .. "
Siberian pine differs significantly from Scotch pine, although they are close relatives. One of the differences concerns seeds: in Scots pine they are small, with wings, while in Siberian cedar they are well-known nuts. Their color is brown, they are covered with a peel and a thin inner shell, under which there is a white oily core. In a large cone, there are more than a hundred seeds.
The second difference concerns the needles, the needles of the cedar are longer, lasting longer on the tree, and there are 5 needles in one bunch, while the needles of the common pine are two. The cedar is also distinguished by a more powerful cone-shaped dark green crown. Yes, and he lives one and a half to two times longer - up to 800-850 years.
The height of the Siberian pine is 35-43 meters. Its trunk is brown-gray, in old trees the bark is fissured. Shoots are yellow-brown, covered with long red hairs. The root system is formed depending on the nature of the soil and soil.
At the end of spring, the cedar pine is dusty and at this time looks especially elegant: crimson-colored male spikelets are clearly visible against the background of dark green needles in the middle and lower parts crowns. And above female cones, oval, purple, collected in 2-7 pieces at the terminal bud of the shoot. In plantations, trees sometimes come across only with male spikelets. Pollination occurs with the help of wind. In September next year cones with seeds ripen, the shape of which can be ovoid, oblong-ovoid, cylindrical or cone-shaped. Outside, the seeds are covered with strong scales strung on a thick rod.
Siberian cedar is winter-hardy, due to which it goes far to the north. Its artificial landings can be found in the Arkhangelsk and Murmansk regions, in particular on the Solovetsky Islands, the island of Valaam.
At the same time, the Siberian giant is undemanding to the soil, successfully tolerates both excess and lack of moisture, but prefers areas with sufficient moisture, therefore it grows well at the headwaters and along river valleys.
Pine pine plays an important role in natural complex Siberia. It has been established that the runoff in cedar forests is several times greater than in other forests. It is not surprising that the waters filtered by the cedar massifs supply Baikal with water, feed the powerful rivers of Siberia - the Ob, Yenisei, Lena.
In addition, Siberian pine forests reliably protect soils, especially mountainous ones, from erosion. Cedar massifs located on mountain slopes Southern Siberia, play essential role in the formation of biological and climatic processes. So, they are rich in all living creatures. During the years of abundant seed harvests, the number of sable and squirrels sharply increases. forest dwellers- jays, nutcrackers, squirrels, chipmunks - have become dexterous in deftly extracting nuts from cones. And the bears, holding the cone with their paws, rip off the scales with their fangs, while the nuts are exposed and go into the mouth without interference.
The existence of 70 species of mammals, 200 species of birds, and many species of insects is associated with cedars. Special mention should be made of the nutcracker bird: feeding on the seeds of the Siberian pine and making reserves for the winter, it contributes to the settlement of the cedar. According to experts, if he did not have such a reliable partner, he could hardly have survived to this day.
A person receives great benefits from this unique beautiful tree. The widely known cedar balsam used in instrument making, as well as turpentine, rosin, varnishes, and camphor are made from cedar oleoresin.
Wood Siberian pine- straight-layer, light, durable, easy to process, not susceptible to decay, - used in the production of pencils, drawing boards, musical instruments. The Germans were the first to know about the high resonant qualities of cedar wood. German trading firms, which bought cedar oil in Russia, suddenly demanded that it be exported in containers made of cedar wood, and the thickness of the container boards should be almost doubled. Subsequently, it turned out that when boxes of oil arrived in Germany, they were very carefully broken and cedar boards were sent to musical instrument factories. Thanks to this, trading companies selling cedar oil had a very significant additional income.
Cedar trees, releasing an essential oil with bactericidal properties, heal the air, give it exquisite fragrance. In dishes made of cedar wood, milk does not sour for a long time, and moths do not start in chests made of cedar boards. Residents of the Cis-Urals have long preferred Siberian pine for home decoration, a significant thickness of the tree made it possible to obtain wide boards suitable for the manufacture of solid doors. In many cities of Siberia and the Urals - Turinsk, Tyumen, Tobolsk, Tomsk - buildings decorated with intricate wooden lace carved from cedar boards have been preserved. And in one of the temples of Tobolsk, an iconostasis was built from cedar.
There is a lot of ascorbic acid, macro- and microelements in the needles of the cedar pine. It is used to make vitamin flour and carotene paste used in animal husbandry. A persistent brown dye is obtained from the cedar bark, tannins are extracted, and thermal insulation boards are made.
But, perhaps, the most significant for humans are the seeds of the cedar pine, tasty and nutritious. They contain 60-70 percent of a beautiful golden-yellow oil of nutritional and technical importance, up to 20 percent of protein, according to amino acid composition reminiscent of an egg, about 12 percent carbohydrates, a complex of vitamins, a rich set of macro- and microelements. Cedar oil is not inferior in quality to the famous olive oil, it is used not only by culinary specialists, but also by artists - many famous masters diluted their paints on it.
Healing pine nuts- help with atherosclerosis. A ethnoscience recommends using not only kernels, but also seed shells, young shoot tips, buds, needles, resin ...
Since ancient times, since the time of Ivan the Terrible, Siberia has been the largest supplier of pine nuts to the world market. According to historians, they were sold to Persia, China, Sweden and other countries. In 1786, Academician P. S. Pallas wrote: “In Switzerland, pine nuts are used in pharmacies; milk is made from them, which is prescribed in chest diseases ... Because of their penetrating, subtle, partly balsamic oil, they are better, why they assure that they were used with benefit by sick people ... ”The main suppliers of nuts were the Tobolsk and Yenisei provinces.
The peoples of Siberia have long respected valuable plant, revered him as sacred, the keeper of goodness, truth and justice. In the Surgut region (Khanty-Mansiysk national district, Tyumen region), when laying a new house, residents put a small cedar pine in the front corner, saying: “Here you are, mother-neighbor, warm house and shaggy cedar! The tree remained in the house - it was considered the habitat of the brownie.
According to Evenk legends, cedar helps to live honestly and disinterestedly, is a source of strength, beauty and nobility. At the birth of a son, the Evenki planted a cedar pine near their dwellings, and when a daughter was born, a birch. In the legends and tales of the Nanais of the Amur region, it is said that only good spirits settle in the cedar pine, because it is the most generous tree. Emphasizing importance of this plant, the Siberians used to say: "The taiga is alive with cedar." They believed that if a child was given a handful of pine nuts every day, he would grow up. good fellow and no disease can overcome him.
There are many mysteries about the cedar pine: “It stands badly, hangs curly, shaggy around the edges, sweet in the middle!”, “Don’t beat me, don’t break me; climb on me: I have!”
Currently, cedar forests occupy about 40 million hectares, or about 5 percent of the territory covered with forests. This makes it possible to collect 1-1.5 million tons of pine nuts in Siberia, but only about 20 thousand tons are harvested. Foresters identified early, large-cone, high-yielding forms of Siberian pine. For their cultivation, plantations are created, on which cuttings taken from high-yielding plants are grafted onto young seedlings. A hectare of such plantations produces 500-600 kilograms, and in some cases 1.5-2 tons of nuts.
Cedar pine plantations are also beginning to appear in the European part of the USSR. However, its closest relative grows here - European cedar pine, listed in the Red Book of the USSR. This rare relic species is found only in the Carpathians. On Far East another relative of the Siberian pine lives - the Korean cedar, which is distinguished by larger cones and needles, a stronger and thicker seed shell. Forests with Korean pine occupy about 4 million hectares in our country. Outside the USSR, the tree grows in eastern China, Korea and Japan.

Cedar and pine are two trees that belong to the same Pine family. Despite the external similarity, both plants have a number of significant differences.

Definition

Cedar- This is a genus of trees of the Pine family, which consists of only a few species.

Lebanese cedar

Pine- This is a genus of trees of the Pine family, with about 120 species.


Scotch pine
Siberian cedar pine

Comparison

Cedars are common within the subtropical climate zone– Mediterranean, mountainous Crimea, Himalayas. Therefore, there are only a few species of these plants - the Lebanese, Himalayan and Atlas cedar.

Pine trees are distributed within the temperate and subtropical climate in Eurasia and North America. Today on Earth there are about 200 species of pines. Pines are evergreens. Depending on the living conditions, they look like large trees with a crown different shapes, and miniature shrubs.

Cedar is a monoecious plant, reaching 50 meters in height. The tree is evergreen, has a characteristic, spreading crown. The needles are arranged in a spiral, collected in bundles of 30-40 pieces each. A separate needle resembles a needle. It can be triangular or tetrahedral, painted in a special emerald-steel color.

Pine is a monoecious plant with long or short needles. From two to five long needles are collected in a bundle, the number of which underlies the taxonomy of pines. When damaged, rosettes form on the tree, from which short needles grow. The color of the green mass of pine depends on the climate and the quality of the soil, therefore it varies from light silver to intense green.

Cedar cones are located singly, "stick out" like candles, and have a special barrel-shaped shape. Such a cone matures in the second or third year of its formation. This organ of seed incubation is characterized by the presence of numerous, spirally arranged scales, to which tiny scales are attached - only 15% of the total weight of the cone! - winged seeds. The embryo of the future cedar consists of 8-10 cotyledons. When a seed enters the ground, a sprout of a new cedar is able to grow - “hatch” in just 3 weeks.

Pine cones have a characteristic oblong shape, do not "stick out", but sadly hang from the branches. While the process of seed maturation is in progress, the scales fit very tightly, but when ripe, they open, “releasing” the seeds. Each scale has a pair of winged or wingless seeds. A very small pine germ has 4 to 15 cotyledons. Germination time depends on the type and geographical location of the plant.

Due to the greater distribution and number of species, pine is more intensively used by humans.

Findings site

  1. The number of pine species is ten times greater than the number of cedar species.
  2. The area of ​​distribution of pine is much wider than that of cedar.
  3. The morphology and size of pine is much more diverse than that of cedar.
  4. There are more needles in a cedar bunch than in a pine one.
  5. Pine massifs have more economic importance for humanity.