Chapter 1 Introduction
Chapter 1 Introduction Chapterl Page 1 1.1 Introduction Chir pine scientifically known as Pinus roxburghii (family Coniferae) is one of the six Pinus species of India and the most widely occurring. It is also known as Himalayan long needle pine, long leaved Indian pine, Indian chir pine, chir or chil. Chir pine (Pinus roxburghii), is the dominant species native of the inter-ranges and principal valleys of the Himalaya. It begins from Afghanistan in the west and ends in Bhutan in the east and extends through countries like Pakistan, India and Nepal. In India its natural forests are found in Jammu and Kashmir, Haryana, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttar Pradesh, parts of Sikkim, West Bengal and Arunachal Pradesh. The total area under chir forests is estimated to be 8, 90,000 hectares which occurs between 450 m to 2300 m altitude. It forms pure forests in its habitat but in its upper and lower limits occurs mixed with other conifers and broad leaved species, though rarely, in its upper limits it is found in association with deodar, kail, ban oak, burans (Rhododendron) etc., and in the lower limits with sal, sain, khair, harada, bahera, amla, jamun etc. Besides Chir pine other indigenous pines which are present in Indian subcontinent are P. gerardiana, P. wallichiana, P.kesiya, P.bhutanica, and P.merkusii (Ginwal et.al, 2009), all belong to family Abitaceae or Pinaceae of order coniferals. Classification of Genus Pinus : Kingdom : Plantae Division : Pinophyta Class : Pinopsida Order : Pinales / Coniferals Family : Pinacea/Abitaceae Genus : Pinus The pines have been traced back in the geological history to Jurassic period (150 million years) reaching their climax in the tertiary period (60 million years).
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