Botanical atlas

Stone Pine

Pinus pinea

Stone pine has fed and sheltered Mediterranean people since before Rome was a city, its broad canopy shading roadsides and villas while its cones quietly ripened overhead for three long years. The nuts, called pignoli in Italy and piñones in Spain, were a staple of the ancient diet, ground into pastes, stirred into pesto, and carried by travelers as a compact, energy-dense food that kept well on long journeys. Coastal and mountain communities also steeped the fresh young needles into a tea, a practice sailors leaned on for their vitamin C content during long voyages when fresh produce ran short, and the fragrant resin was traditionally worked into salves and rubs for the chest and for minor skin complaints. Even where the tree was not native, it was planted along avenues and gardens for its dramatic silhouette, becoming one of the most recognizable trees of the Mediterranean world.

Safety.

Pine nuts are a safe, widely eaten food, though some batches, often mixed with other pine species, have caused a temporary bitter or metallic taste known as pine nut syndrome, which is harmless but unpleasant. Pine pollen can trigger seasonal allergies, and concentrated essential oil should never be taken internally; when foraging needles or resin, be sure of identification, since toxic evergreens like yew can be mistaken for pine.