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Pinus koraiensis; photograph (c) Anastasia Balaeva, some rights reserved (CC BY) CC BY(c) Anastasia Balaeva, some rights reserved (CC BY) · observed growing wild · 2025-08-02

Pinus koraiensis Siebold & Zucc.

Korean pine; Chinese pinenut; Korean nut pine; Korean white pine

Pinaceae · Amur, Khabarovsk +4 · listed by its genus as a temperate garden plant

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Pinus koraiensis, photograph (c) Violetta Dzizyurova, some rights reserved (CC BY)Pinus koraiensis, photograph (c) Поляков Александр, some rights reserved (CC BY)Pinus koraiensis, photograph (c) Поляков Александр, some rights reserved (CC BY)Pinus koraiensis, photograph (c) Tatyana Petrenko, some rights reserved (CC BY)Pinus koraiensis, photograph (c) Lena Perova, some rights reserved (CC BY)Pinus koraiensis, photograph (c) Tatyana Petrenko, some rights reserved (CC BY) 46 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
-12.9°C
Record low -19.5 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
26°C
Aug at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
1,400mm
11 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
15–36DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in your months, northern hemisphere
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
Wet summers: the rain comes May to September, read as a summer growing season. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Summary

Pinus koraiensis is a species of pine known commonly as the Korean pine. It is a relic species of the Tertiary, identified as a rare tree species by United Nations. It is native to eastern Asia, in Korea, northeastern China, the temperate rainforests of the Russian Far East, and central Japan. In the north of its range, it grows at moderate elevations, typically 600 to 900 metres (2,000 to 3,000 feet), whereas further south, it is a mountain tree, growing at 2,000 to 2,600 m (6,600 to 8,500 ft) elevation in Japan. More on Wikipedia ›

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Pinus koraiensis", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Grouped as a temperate garden plant, listed under the genus Pinus in the archetype table, and Kew describes it as “tree”, “temperate”.

Seasons

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the median year's rain (1,065 mm of 1,374 mm) falls in May to September, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 19.6 °C against a yearly mean of 9.8 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: November to March.

Rain

1,374 mm in the median year at the habitat, 1,065 mm of it May to September. Wettest month July at 336 mm, driest month December at 24 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 753 mm to 1,866 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 1,400 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 1,374 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, northern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 15 to 36 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 11, the highest 90th-percentile month 37).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is -12.9 °C, the absolute minimum -19.5 °C, 5,128 frost nights in 44 years, 116.5 a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 26.2 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low -11.7 °C in January (across the grid cells of the range -24.5 °C to -6.0 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 25.9 °C in August (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: -12.9 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER).

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 54 to 67% across the year (monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

How this section is made

Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.

Seasons. Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the grid cells of the range: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve moves 4 °C or more and the habitat lies 10° or more from the equator. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain. CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the grid cells of the range. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light. CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Temperature. NASA POWER daily minima and maxima over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, lapse-corrected +685 m to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. The cold floor is the 1st-percentile night named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity. CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the grid cells of the range.

Group. Listed under the genus Pinus in the archetype table, and Kew describes it as “tree”, “temperate”. A group is taken only where Kew's description of the species agrees with the table's listing. The table gives no figure and no prose; the cold floor is the habitat's alone.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat months, northern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Pinus koraiensis through the yearWarmest month August, mean daily high 26 °C; coldest month January, mean nightly low -11.7 °C; 1,374 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA; the extremes at the edge from NASA POWER. Habitat months, northern hemisphere.-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°frost26.2° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER-19.5° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400500mm rainDLI 15–36RH 54–67%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 781 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low extremes over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, from NASA POWER, marked at the edge, in no month DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C-1 / -13–22 / -9–57 / -1–1014 / 8–1719 / 14–2223 / 18–2625 / 21–2826 / 22–2822 / 17–2416 / 9–198 / -2–111 / -10–5
Night °C-12 / -25–-6-9 / -21–-4-3 / -13–04 / -2–69 / 5–1214 / 10–1719 / 14–2119 / 15–2214 / 8–167 / 0–9-1 / -11–2-7 / -22–-3
Rain mm25 / 13–4729 / 13–5251 / 27–7874 / 45–99104 / 72–140148 / 89–205336 / 129–450306 / 136–394171 / 99–26257 / 45–9749 / 29–7324 / 18–37
DLI17 / 14–1923 / 20–2429 / 28–3035 / 33–3636 / 35–3735 / 33–3628 / 26–3128 / 26–2926 / 24–2723 / 19–2417 / 14–1815 / 11–17
RH %57 / 54–6355 / 54–6055 / 54–5754 / 53–5758 / 56–6161 / 59–6667 / 64–7066 / 64–6861 / 60–6458 / 56–5957 / 55–5957 / 54–63
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 781 grid cells holding the 1147 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. A dash is a month one or more of those cells has no figure for in the grid (a variable CHELSA does not carry there), so no median is taken rather than one over fewer cells. Extremes and elevation were read at a typical spot in the range, cell 1056:6181 (37.175, 129.075). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -19.5 °C, 1st-percentile night -12.9 °C, 99th-percentile day 26.2 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Across the range: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 781 distinct grid cells holding 1147 of the 1147 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1056:6181 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 37.00_129.375, lapse-corrected +685 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 864 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across the cells of the in-range records placed well enough to read one, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeAmur, Khabarovsk, Primorye, Manchuria, Japan, Korea · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Map marker37.534, 127.854 · in the densest population, 661 records (48% of those in range)
Kew's description“tree” · “temperate” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 1384 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 1147 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 496 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 60 km away. 43 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 237 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 1384 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Pinus koraiensis, photograph 1did not loadPinus koraiensis, photograph 2did not loadPinus koraiensis, photograph 3did not loadPinus koraiensis, photograph 4did not loadPinus koraiensis, photograph 5did not loadPinus koraiensis, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: (c) Violetta Dzizyurova, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Поляков Александр, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) Tatyana Petrenko, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) Lena Perova, some rights reserved (CC BY).

Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.

Betula chinensis Betula chinensis China birch Photo: CC0, author not statedVitis amurensis Vitis amurensis Amur grape Photo: CC BY, Tatyana PetrenkoClematis heracleifolia Clematis heracleifolia Hyacinth-flower clematis Photo: CC BY, Jane CharlenAcer triflorum Acer triflorum Three-flower maple Photo: CC BY-SA, AbrahamiDeutzia parviflora Deutzia parviflora Mongolian deutzia Photo: CC BY, Tatyana PetrenkoEleutherococcus sessiliflorus Eleutherococcus sessiliflorus Stalkless-flower eleuthero Photo: CC BY, Tatyana Petrenko

Other Pinus 110 in the reference

Pinus albicaulis Pinus albicaulis Whitebark pine Photo: CC0, author not statedPinus aristata Pinus aristata Colorado bristlecone pine Photo: CC0, author not statedPinus arizonica Pinus arizonica Arizona pine Photo: CC BY, CK2AZPinus armandi Pinus armandi Pinaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, nekonoir on FlickrPinus attenuata Pinus attenuata Knobcone pine Photo: CC BY, Max MileyPinus × attenuradiata Pinus × attenuradiata Pinaceae Photo: CC0, author not statedPinus ayacahuite Pinus ayacahuite Mexican white pine Photo: CC BY, Neptalí Ramírez MarcialPinus balfouriana Pinus balfouriana Foxtail pine Photo: CC0, author not statedPinus banksiana Pinus banksiana Jack pine Photo: CC BY, Nathan AaronPinus bhutanica Pinus bhutanica Bhutan Pine Photo: CC BY, Tandin Wangdi Pinus brachyptera Pinaceae Pinus brutia Pinus brutia Calabrian pine Photo: CC BY, Ксения Волянская all 111 ›

Names & registers

Also known as Apinus koraiensis; Pinus cembra var. excelsa; Pinus cembra var. mandschurica; Pinus koraiensis subsp. prokoraiensis; Pinus mandschurica and 3 more. (GBIF Backbone)

Under another author Pinus strobus Thunb. is an older name of this species, not Pinus strobus, a species of the reference. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Pinaceae
Described by
Siebold & Zucc.
Native to
Amur, Khabarovsk, Primorye +3
Wild records
1384 in range · 496 open

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-22
GBIF species record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-22names fetched 2026-10-22
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 195 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (190 at a botanic garden or arboretum, 4 at a herbarium, 1 at a zoo; Wikidata's list)
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-22
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 37.00_129.375, lapse-corrected +685 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild answeredasked 2026-10-22from iNaturalist's open data of 2026-09-27: research-grade observations with an open-licence photograph, the 24 whose photographs iNaturalist received last (the open data holds no votes); filled 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media answeredasked 2026-10-22
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 120 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

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