Plants of the Bible: Italian Stone Pine
Pinus pinea, Umbrella pine, Stone pine, Italian stone pine,
Hebrew: אורן הצנובר, Arabic: صنوبر مثمر,sanawbar
| Scientific name: | Pinus pinea L. | |
| Common name | Umbrella pine, Stone pine, Italian stone pine, pine kernel nuts | |
| Hebrew name: | אורן הצנובר | |
| Arabic name: | صنوبر مثمر,sanawbar | |
| Family: | Pinaceae, אורניים |
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| Life form: | Phanerophyte, tree | |
| Stems: | Up to 12–20 m; Bark, thick, red-brown, deeply fissured | |
| Leaves: | Alternate, needle-like, in bundles of two | |
| Flowers: | No petals and tepals | |
| Fruits / pods: | Cones, broad, ovoid, 8–15 cm long; 36 months to mature; seeds (pine nuts), 2 cm long, pale brown with a powdery black coating | |
| Flowering Period: | March, April, May | |
| Habitat: | Disturbed habitats | |
| Distribution: | Mediterranean Woodlands and Shrublands | |
| Chorotype: | Escaped from cultivation | |
| Summer shedding: | Perennating |
 Derivation of the botanical name: Pinus, Latin, pine; Greek, pitys, pine tree.
pinea, Latin, pine cone.
The pinus pinea, stone or umbrella pine,is a medium-sized two-needled pine, has cracked scaley bark, white to soft yellow, workable wood which is valuable timber, and large cones with edible seeds, known as pignolia nuts or pine nuts: Michael Zohary identifies the tree named tirzah of Isaiah 44:14 with the Pinus pinea. He notes that this may have led Saadia Gaon (c.892–942), (Hebrew: סעדיה בן יוסף גאון, Arabic: سعيد بن يوسف الفيومي Sa`īd bin Yūsuf al-Fayyūmi), translator of the Bible into its first Arabic version (10th century), to render tirzah as “stone pine.” In Arabic, as in many languages, the names of several conifers include the radical rz or arz, suggesting kinship with erez (cedar). Tidhar, mentioned along with the fir-tree in Isaiah 41:19; 60:13, is probably the cypress, or it may be the stone-pine. Bible resources:
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