PINE

Chemical properties

Dwarf pine is a shrub, 1 to 3 m tall, with one or more curved trunks; long branches, with the base lying on the ground (up to 10 m from base) and/or so bent that it appears to be growing horizontally. It is native to the mountainous areas of central and southern Europe, Tyrol, Bavaria, Switzerland and the Balkans. The trunk is quite twisted and knotty; branches are irregular with linear, twined needles. The flowers are monoic, and the cones have woody scales. The parts used are the needles and twigs. Dwarf pine contains a pleasant, pine-like odor (sweet, balsamic), somewhat woody. The unique odor apparently comes from traces of lower aliphatic aldehydes.

Composition

In green needles of P. mugo the most abundant polyprenols occur as a mixture of prenologues in which the dominant alcohol is built of 16 isoprene units.*