Pinus pinaster, the maritime pine or cluster pine, is a pine native to the south Atlantic Europe region and parts of the western Mediterranean. It is a hard, fast growing pine bearing small seeds with large wings. Description Pinus pinaster is a medium-size tree, reaching tall with a trunk diameter of up to , exceptionally . The bark is orange-red, thick, and deeply fissured at the base of the trunk, somewhat thinner in the upper crown. The leaves ('needles') are in pairs, very stout ( broad), up to long, and bluish-green to distinctly yellowish-green. The maritime pine features the longest and most robust needles of all European pine species. The cones are conic, long and broad at the base when closed, green at first, ripening glossy red-brown when 24 months old. They open slowly over the next few years, or after being heated by a forest fire, to release the seeds, opening to broad. The seeds are long, with a wing, and are wind-dispersed. Similar species Maritime pine is closely related to Turkish pine, Canary Island pine, and Aleppo pine, which all share many features with it. It is a relatively non-variable species, with constant morphology over the entire range. Distribution and habitat Its range is in the western Mediterranean Basin and the southern Atlantic coast of Europe, extending from central Portugal and Northern Spain (especially in Galicia) to southern and Western France, east to western Italy, Croatia and south to northern Tunisia, Algeria and northern Morocco. It favours a Mediterranean climate, which is one that has cool, rainy winters and hot, dry summers. It generally occurs at low to moderate altitudes, mostly from sea level to , but up to in the south of its range in Morocco. The high degree of fragmentation in the current natural distribution is caused by two factors: the discontinuity and altitude of the mountain ranges causing isolation of even close populations, and human activity. Ecology Pinus pinaster is a popular topic in ecology because of its problematic growth and spread in South Africa for the past 150 years after being imported into the region at the end of the 17th century (1685–1693). It was found spreading in the Cape Peninsula by 1772. Towards the end of the 18th century (1780), P. pinaster was widely planted, and at the beginning of the 19th century (1825–1830), P. pinaster was planted commercially as a timber resource