Pine

A pine is any conifer in the genus Pinus (/ˈpiːnuːs/[1]) of the family Pinaceae. Pinus is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. The Plant List compiled by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanical Garden accepts 126 species names of pines as current, together with 35 unresolved species and many more synonyms.[2] Pine may also refer to the lumber derived from pine trees; pine is one of the more extensively used types of wood used as lumber.

This article is about the tree. For other uses, see Pine (disambiguation) and Pines (disambiguation).

Pine tree
Korean red pine (Pinus densiflora), North Korea
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Division: Pinophyta
Class: Pinopsida
Order: Pinales
Family: Pinaceae
Subfamily: Pinoideae
Genus: Pinus
L.
Subgenera
  • Subgenus Strobus
  • Subgenus Pinus

See List of Pinus species for complete taxonomy to species level. See list of pines by region for list of species by geographic distribution.

Range of Pinus

Etymology

The modern English name "pine" derives from Latin pinus, which some have traced to the Indo-European base *pīt- ‘resin’ (source of English pituitary).[3] Before the 19th century, pines were often referred to as firs (from Old Norse fura, by way of Middle English firre). In some European languages, Germanic cognates of the Old Norse name are still in use for pines—in Danish fyr, in Norwegian fura/fure/furu, Swedish fura/furu, Dutch vuren, and German Föhre—but in modern English, fir is now restricted to fir (Abies) and Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga).

Description
Illustration of needles, cones, and seeds of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris)

Pine trees are evergreen, coniferous resinous trees (or, rarely, shrubs) growing 3–80 m (10–260 ft) tall, with the majority of species reaching 15–45 m (50–150 ft) tall.[4] The smallest are Siberian dwarf pine and Potosi pinyon, and the tallest is an 81.79 m (268.35 ft) tall ponderosa pine located in southern Oregon's Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest.[5]

Pines are long lived and typically reach ages of 100–1,000 years, some even more. The longest-lived is the Great Basin bristlecone pine, Pinus longaeva. One individual of this species, dubbed "Methuselah", is one of the world's oldest living organisms at around 4,600 years old. This tree can be found in the White Mountains of California.[6] An older tree, now cut down, was dated at 4,900 years old. It was discovered in a grove beneath Wheeler Peak and it is now known as "Prometheus" after the Greek immortal.

The spiral growth of branches, needles, and cone scales may be arranged in Fibonacci number ratios.[7][8] The new spring shoots are sometimes called "candles"; they are covered in brown or whitish bud scales and point upward at first, then later turn green and spread outward. These "candles" offer foresters a means to evaluate fertility of the soil and vigour of the trees.

Bark

The bark of most pines is thick and scaly, but some species have thin, flaky bark.[9] The branches are produced in regular "pseudo whorls", actually a very tight spiral but appearing like a ring of branches arising from the same point. Many pines are uninodal, producing just one such whorl of branches each year, from buds at the tip of the year's new shoot, but others are multinodal, producing two or more whorls of branches per year.

Foliage

Pines have four types of leaf:

  • Seed leaves (cotyledons) on seedlings are borne in a whorl of 4–24.
  • Juvenile leaves, which follow immediately on seedlings and young plants, are 2–6 cm long, single, green or often blue-green, and arranged spirally on the shoot. These are produced for six months to five years, rarely longer.
  • Scale leaves, similar to bud scales, are small, brown and not photosynthetic, and arranged spirally like the juvenile leaves.
  • Needles, the adult leaves, are green (photosynthetic) and bundled in clusters called fascicles. The needles can number from one to seven per fascicle, but generally number from two to five. Each fascicle is produced from a small bud on a dwarf shoot in the axil of a scale leaf. These bud scales often remain on the fascicle as a basal sheath. The needles persist for 1.5–40 years, depending on species. If a shoot is damaged (e.g. eaten by an animal), the needle fascicles just below the damage will generate a bud which can then replace the lost leaves.

Cones
Pine cone

Pines are mostly monoecious, having the male and female cones on the same tree, though a few species are sub-dioecious, with individuals predominantly, but not wholly, single-sex. The male cones are small, typically 1–5 cm long, and only present for a short period (usually in spring, though autumn in a few pines), falling as soon as they have shed their pollen. The female cones take 1.5–3 years (depending on species) to mature after pollination, with actual fertilization delayed one year. At maturity the female cones are 3–60 cm long. Each cone has numerous spirally arranged scales, with two seeds on each fertile scale; the scales at the base and tip of the cone are small and sterile, without seeds.

The seeds are mostly small and winged, and are anemophilous (wind-dispersed), but some are larger and have only a vestigial wing, and are bird-dispersed (see below). Female cones are woody and sometimes armed to protect developing seeds from foragers. At maturity, the cones usually open to release the seeds. In some of the bird-dispersed species, for example whitebark pine,[10]), the seeds are only released by the bird breaking the cones open. In others, the seeds are stored in closed cones for many years until an environmental cue triggers the cones to open, releasing the seeds. This is called serotiny. The most common form of serotiny is pyriscence, in which a resin binds the cones shut until melted by a forest fire, for example in Pinus rigida.

Evolutionary history

Conifers evolved about 300 million years ago, and pines perhaps around 153 million years ago. The genus Pinus is thought to have diverged from other pines about 95 million years ago.

Pinus is the largest genus of the Pinaceae, the pine family, which is the oldest and largest conifer family. It dates back to 206 million years ago.[11] Based on recent transriptome analysis, Pinus is most closely related to the genus Cathaya, which in turn is closely related to spruces. These genera, with firs and larches, form the pinoid clade of the Pinaceae.

The evolutionary history of the genus Pinus has been complicated by hybridization. Pines are prone to inter-specific breeding. Wind pollination, long life spans, overlapping generations, large population size, and weak reproductive isolation make breeding across species more likely.[12] As the pines have diversified, gene transfer between different species has created a complex history of genetic relatedness.

Taxonomy, nomenclature and codification
Main article: List of Pinus species

Pines are gymnosperms. The genus is divided into two subgenera based on the number of fibrovascular bundles in the needle. The subgenera can be distinguished by cone, seed, and leaf characters:

  • Pinus subg. Pinus, the yellow, or hard pine group, generally with harder wood and two or three needles per fascicle.[13] The subgenus is also named diploxylon, on account of its two fibrovascular bundles.
  • Pinus subg. Strobus, the white, or soft pine group. Its members usually have softer wood and five needles per fascicle.[13] The subgenus is also named haploxylon, on account of its one fibrovascular bundle.

Each subgenus is further divided into sections and subsections.

Many of the smaller groups of Pinus are composed of closely related species with recent divergence and history of hybridization. This results in low morphological and genetic differences. This, coupled with low sampling and underdeveloped genetic techniques, has made taxonomy difficult to determine.[14] Recent research using large genetic datasets has clarified these relationships into the groupings we recognize today.

Distribution
Monterey Pine in Sydney, Australia, which were introduced to the region in the late 19th century.

Pines are native to the Northern Hemisphere, and in a few parts of the tropics in the Southern Hemisphere. Most regions of the Northern Hemisphere (see List of pines by region) host some native species of pines. One species (Sumatran pine) crosses the equator in Sumatra to 2°S. In North America, various species occur in regions at latitudes from as far north as 66°N to as far south as 12°N.

Pines may be found in a very large variety of environments, ranging from semi-arid desert to rainforests, from sea level up to 5,200 metres (17,100 ft), from the coldest to the hottest environments on Earth. They often occur in mountainous areas with favorable soils and at least some water.[15]

Various species have been introduced to temperate and subtropical regions of both hemispheres, where they are grown as timber or cultivated as ornamental plants in parks and gardens. A number of such introduced species have become naturalized, and some species are considered invasive in some areas[16] and threaten native ecosystems.

Ecology
Pine forest in Vagamon, southern Western Ghats, Kerala (India)

Pines grow well in acid soils, some also on calcareous soils; most require good soil drainage, preferring sandy soils, but a few (e.g. lodgepole pine) can tolerate poorly drained wet soils. A few are able to sprout after forest fires (e.g. Canary Island pine). Some species of pines (e.g. bishop pine) need fire to regenerate, and their populations slowly decline under fire suppression regimens.

Several species are adapted to extreme conditions imposed by elevation and latitude (e.g. Siberian dwarf pine, mountain pine, whitebark pine, and the bristlecone pines). The pinyon pines and a number of others, notably Turkish pine and gray pine, are particularly well adapted to growth in hot, dry semidesert climates.

The seeds are commonly eaten by birds, such as grouse, crossbills, jays, nuthatches, siskins, and woodpeckers, and by squirrels. Some birds, notably the spotted nutcracker, Clark's nutcracker, and pinyon jay, are of importance in distributing pine seeds to new areas. Pine needles are sometimes eaten by some Lepidoptera (butterfly and moth) species (see list of Lepidoptera that feed on pines), the Symphytan species pine sawfly, and goats.

Pine pollen may play an important role in the functioning of detrital food webs.[17] Nutrients from pollen aid detritivores in development, growth, and maturation, and may enable fungi to decompose nutritionally scarce litter.[17] Pine pollen is also involved in moving plant matter between terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems.[17]

Uses

Lumber and construction
Logging Pinus ponderosa, Arizona, USA

Pines are among the most commercially important tree species valued for their timber and wood pulp throughout the world.[18][19] In temperate and tropical regions, they are fast-growing softwoods that grow in relatively dense stands, their acidic decaying needles inhibiting the sprouting of competing hardwoods. Commercial pines are grown in plantations for timber that is denser and therefore more durable than spruce (Picea). Pine wood is widely used in high-value carpentry items such as furniture, window frames, panelling, floors, and roofing, and the resin of some species is an important source of turpentine.

Because pines have no insect- or decay-resistant qualities after logging, untreated they are generally recommended for construction purposes as indoor use only (indoor drywall framing, for example). For outside use, pine needs to be treated with copper azole, chromated copper arsenate or other suitable chemical preservative.[20].

Ornamental uses
"Pine Clouds", 1903 painting on fan by Wu Ku-hsiang

Many pine species make attractive ornamental plantings for parks and larger gardens with a variety of dwarf cultivars being suitable for smaller spaces. Pines are also commercially grown and harvested for Christmas trees. Pine cones, the largest and most durable of all conifer cones, are craft favorites. Pine boughs, appreciated especially in wintertime for their pleasant smell and greenery, are popularly cut for decorations.[21] Pine needles are also used for making decorative articles such as baskets, trays, pots, etc, and during the U.S. Civil War, the needles of the longleaf pine "Georgia pine" were widely employed in this.[22] This originally Native American skill is now being replicated across the world. Pine needle handicrafts are made in the US, Canada, Mexico, Nicaragua, and India. Pine needles are also versatile and have been used by Latvian designer Tamara Orjola to create different biodegradable products including paper, furniture, textiles and dye.[23]

Wildlife
Pine beauty moth (Panolis flammea) on pine needles
Further information: List of Lepidoptera that feed on pines

Pine needles serve as food for various Lepidoptera. Several species of pine are attacked by nematodes, causing pine wilt disease, which can kill some quickly. Some of these Lepidoptera species, many of them moths, specialize in feeding on only one or sometimes several species of pine. Beside that many species of birds and mammals shelter in pine habitat or feed on pine nuts.

Farming

When grown for sawing timber, pine plantations can be harvested after 25 years, with some stands being allowed to grow up to 50 (as the wood value increases more quickly as the trees age). Imperfect trees (such as those with bent trunks or forks, smaller trees, or diseased trees) are removed in a "thinning" operation every 5–10 years. Thinning allows the best trees to grow much faster, because it prevents weaker trees from competing for sunlight, water, and nutrients. Young trees removed during thinning are used for pulpwood or are left in the forest, while most older ones are good enough for saw timber.

[24]

A 30-year-old commercial pine tree grown in good conditions in Arkansas will be about 0.3 m (1.0 ft) in diameter and about 20 m (66 ft) high. After 50 years, the same tree will be about 0.5 m (1.6 ft) in diameter and 25 m (82 ft) high, and its wood will be worth about seven times as much as the 30-year-old tree. This how ever depends on the region, species and silvicultural techniques. In New Zealand plantations maximum value is reached at around 28 years with height being as high as 30 m (98 ft) and diameter 0.5 m (1.6 ft) and maximum wood production around 35 years (again depending on factors such as site, stocking and genetics). Trees are normally planted 3–4 m apart, or about 1000 per hectare (100,000 per km2). [25] [26] [27] [28]


Food and nutrients
Edible seeds of the Korean pine (Pinus koraiensis)

Some species have large seeds, called pine nuts, that are harvested and sold for cooking and baking. They are an essential ingredient of pesto alla genovese.

The soft, moist, white inner bark (cambium) beneath the woody outer bark is edible and very high in vitamins A and C. It can be eaten raw in slices as a snack or dried and ground up into a powder for use as an ersatz flour or thickener in stews, soups, and other foods, such as bark bread. Adirondack Indians got their name from the Mohawk Indian word atirú:taks, meaning "tree eaters".

A tea made by steeping young, green pine needles in boiling water (known as tallstrunt in Sweden) is high in vitamins A and C. In eastern Asia, pine and other conifers are accepted among consumers as a beverage product, and used in teas, as well as wine.[29]

Pine needles from Pinus densiflora were found to contain 30.54 mg/g of proanthocyanidins when extracted with hot water.[30] Comparative to ethanol extraction resulting in 30.11 mg/g, simply extracting in hot water is preferable.

In traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), pine resin is used for burns, wounds and dermal complaints.[31]

Pines have been a frequently mentioned tree throughout history, including in literature, paintings and other art, and in religious texts.

Literature

Writers of various nationalities and ethnicities have written of pines. Among them, John Muir,[32] Dora Sigerson Shorter,[33] Eugene Field,[34] the Chinese,[35] Theodore Winthrop,[36] and Rev. George Allan D.D.[37]

Art
Under the Pines, Evening, Claude Monet (1888) (Philadelphia Museum of Art)
By Camille Pissarro.

Pines are often featured in art, whether painting and fine art,[38] drawing,[39] photography, or folk art.

Religious texts

Pine trees, as well as other conifers, are mentioned in The Bible. In Nehemiah 8:15, the King James Version renders the following translation:[40]

"And that they should publish and proclaim in all their cities, and in Jerusalem, saying, Go forth unto the mount, and fetch olive branches, and pine branches [emphasis added], and myrtle branches, and palm branches, and branches of thick trees, to make booths, as it is written."

Pines are also mentioned in Isaiah 41:

"17: When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue faileth for thirst, I the LORD will hear them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them. 18: I will open rivers in high places, and fountains in the midst of the valleys: I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water. 19: I will plant in the wilderness the cedar, the shittah tree, and the myrtle, and the oil tree; I will set in the desert the fir tree, and the pine, and the box tree together: 20: That they may see, and know, and consider, and understand together, that the hand of the LORD hath done this, and the Holy One of Israel hath created it."

And in Isaiah 60:

"13: The glory of Lebanon shall come unto thee, the fir tree, the pine tree, and the box together, to beautify the place of my sanctuary; and I will make the place of my feet glorious."

Chinese culture
Many Chinese ink sticks are made out of pine: the wood being burnt and the soot collected as an ingredient to provide the coloring
Further information: Three Friends of Winter

The pine is a motif in Chinese art and literature, which sometimes combines painting and poetry in the same work. Some of the main symbolic attributes of pines in Chinese art and literature are longevity and steadfastness: the pine retains its green needles through all the seasons. Sometimes the pine and cypress are paired. At other times the pine, plum, and bamboo are considered as the "Three Friends of Winter".[41] Many Chinese art works and/or literature (some involving pines) have been done using paper, brush, and Chinese ink: interestingly enough, one of the main ingredients for Chinese ink has been pine soot.

gollark: I don't think so.
gollark: Yes, because there's no `redstone` in scope.
gollark: What's the error?
gollark: You want getInput.
gollark: https://ocdoc.cil.li/component:redstone

See also

References

Citations
  1. Sunset Western Garden Book. 1995. pp. 606–607. ISBN 978-0-376-03851-7.
  2. "The Plant List Version 1.1". Retrieved 15 December 2015.
  3. "Where Are You From? - Credo Reference". credoreference.com.
  4. Fattig P (2011-01-23). "Tallest of the tall". Mail Tribune. Medford, Oregon. Archived from the original on 2012-09-23. Retrieved 2020-04-20.
  5. Fattig P (2011-01-23). "Tallest of the tall". Mail Tribune. Medford, Oregon. Archived from the original on 2012-09-23. Retrieved 2011-01-27.
  6. Ryan M, Richardson DM (December 1999). "The Complete Pine". BioScience. 49 (12): 1023–1024. doi:10.2307/1313736. JSTOR 1313736.
  7. Zeng, Lanling; Wang, Guozhao (2009). "Modeling golden section in plants". Progress in Natural Science. 19 (2): 255–260. doi:10.1016/j.pnsc.2008.07.004. The ratio between two pine needles is 0.618 [...] the angle between the two neighbors is about 135° and the angle between the main stem and each branch is close to 34.4° which is the golden section of 90°
  8. Bracewell, Ronald; Rawlings, John. "Pinus (Pine) Notes". Trees of Stanford. Retrieved 2 February 2020.
  9. V.I. Porter. (2018). Mystique Melodies. Dorrance Publishing.
  10. Tomback DF (June 1982). "Dispersal of Whitebark Pine seeds by Clark's Nutcracker: a mutualism hypothesis". The Journal of Animal Ecology. 51 (2): 451–467. doi:10.2307/3976. JSTOR 3976.
  11. Ran JH, Shen TT, Wu H, Gong X, Wang XQ (December 2018). "Phylogeny and evolutionary history of Pinaceae updated by transcriptomic analysis". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 129: 106–116. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2018.08.011. PMID 30153503.
  12. Hernández-León S, Gernandt DS, Pérez de la Rosa JA, Jardón-Barbolla L (2013-07-30). "Phylogenetic relationships and species delimitation in pinus section trifoliae inferrred from plastid DNA". PLOS One. 8 (7): e70501. Bibcode:2013PLoSO...870501H. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0070501. PMC 3728320. PMID 23936218.
  13. Burton Verne Barnes; Warren Herbert Wagner (January 2004). Michigan Trees: A Guide to the Trees of the Great Lakes Region. University of Michigan Press. pp. 81–. ISBN 978-0-472-08921-5. Archived from the original on 2016-05-11.
  14. Flores-Rentería L, Wegier A, Ortega Del Vecchyo D, Ortíz-Medrano A, Piñero D, Whipple AV, et al. (December 2013). "Genetic, morphological, geographical and ecological approaches reveal phylogenetic relationships in complex groups, an example of recently diverged pinyon pine species (Subsection Cembroides)". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 69 (3): 940–9. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2013.06.010. PMID 23831459.
  15. "Pine Trees". Basic Biology. Retrieved 2019-10-31.
  16. "Pinus ssp. (tree), General Impact". Global Invasive Species Database. Invasive Species Specialist Group. 13 March 2006. Archived from the original on 26 July 2011. Retrieved 2 March 2011.
  17. Filipiak M (2016-01-01). "Pollen Stoichiometry May Influence Detrital Terrestrial and Aquatic Food Webs". Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution. 4: 138. doi:10.3389/fevo.2016.00138.
  18. "Choosing a Timber Species - Timber Frame HQ". Timber Frame HQ. Retrieved 2018-01-04.
  19. "Trees for pulp" (PDF). Paper.org.
  20. "Timber treatment". weathertight.org.nz. 2010-10-18. Retrieved 18 May 2019.
  21. "5 Ways to Decorate with Pine Boughs". Home Decorating Trends - Homedit. 2012-12-04. Retrieved 2018-01-04.
  22. McAfee MJ (1911). The pine-needle basket book. The Library of Congress. New York : Pine-Needle Pub. Co.
  23. Solanki S (2018-12-17). "5 radical material innovations that will shape tomorrow". CNN Style. Retrieved 2018-12-17.
  24. "The Pine Plantation Rotation" (PDF). Forests NSW. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2016-03-08. Retrieved 1 April 2016.
  25. Frank A. Roth II, Extension Forester. "Thinning to improve pine timber" (PDF). University of Arkensas Division of Agriculture. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 October 2016. Retrieved 3 April 2016.
  26. "NZ Farm Forestry - Radiata pine silviculture in Chile". www.nzffa.org.nz. Retrieved 2020-08-03.
  27. "NZ Farm Forestry - NZFFA guide sheet No. 1: An Introduction to Growing Radiata Pine". www.nzffa.org.nz. Retrieved 2020-08-03.
  28. Manley, Bruce (2020-07-01). "Impact on profitability, risk, optimum rotation age and afforestation of changing the New Zealand emissions trading scheme to an averaging approach". Forest Policy and Economics. 116: 102205. doi:10.1016/j.forpol.2020.102205. ISSN 1389-9341.
  29. Zeng WC, Jia LR, Zhang Y, Cen JQ, Chen X, Gao H, Feng S, Huang YN (March 2011). "Antibrowning and antimicrobial activities of the water-soluble extract from pine needles of Cedrus deodara". Journal of Food Science. 76 (2): C318–23. doi:10.1111/j.1750-3841.2010.02023.x. PMID 21535752.
  30. Park YS, Jeon MH, Hwang HJ, Park MR, Lee SH, Kim SG, Kim M (August 2011). "Antioxidant activity and analysis of proanthocyanidins from pine (Pinus densiflora) needles". Nutrition Research and Practice. 5 (4): 281–7. doi:10.4162/nrp.2011.5.4.281. PMC 3180677. PMID 21994521.
  31. Ulukanli Z, Karabörklü S, Bozok F, Ates B, Erdogan S, Cenet M, Karaaslan MG (December 2014). "Chemical composition, antimicrobial, insecticidal, phytotoxic and antioxidant activities of Mediterranean Pinus brutia and Pinus pinea resin essential oils". Chinese Journal of Natural Medicines. 12 (12): 901–10. doi:10.1016/s1875-5364(14)60133-3. PMID 25556061.
  32. Muir J. The Yosemite.
  33. Shorter DS. The Secret.
  34. Field, Eugene. Poems of Childhood/Norse Lullaby.
  35. Bai Juyi "The Pine Trees in the Courtyard"
  36. Winthrop T. Life in the Open Air.
  37. The Book of Scottish Song.
  38. Pissarro C (1903). "Work by Camille Pissarro". Retrieved 1 April 2018.
  39. Britton NL, Brown A (1913). "Pinus strobus L". Illustrated flora of the northern states and Canada. 1. USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database. Retrieved 2018-01-04.
  40. "NEHEMIAH 8:15 KJV "And that they should publish and proclaim in all their cities, and in Jerusalem, saying, Go forth unto..."". www.kingjamesbibleonline.org. Retrieved 2018-01-04.
  41. Eberhard, Wolfram (2003 [1986 (German version 1983)]), A Dictionary of Chinese Symbols: Hidden Symbols in Chinese Life and Thought. London, New York: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-00228-1, sub "Pine".

Bibliography
  • Farjon A (2005). Pines (2nd ed.). Leiden: E. J. Brill. ISBN 90-04-13916-8.
  • Little Jr EL, Critchfield WB (1969). Subdivisions of the Genus Pinus (Pines). Misc. Publ. 1144 (Superintendent of Documents Number: A 1.38:1144 (Report). US Department of Agriculture.
  • Richardson DM, ed. (1998). Ecology and Biogeography of Pinus. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. p. 530. ISBN 0-521-55176-5.
  • Sulavik SB (2007). Adirondack; Of Indians and Mountains, 1535-1838. Fleischmanns, NY: Purple Mountain Press. pp. 244 pages. ISBN 978-1-930098-79-4.
  • Mirov NT (1967). The Genus Pinus. New York, NY: Ronald Press.
  • "Classification of pines". The Lovett Pinetum Charitable Foundation.
  • Mirov NT, Stanley RG (1959). "The Pine Tree". Annual Review of Plant Physiology. 10: 223–238. doi:10.1146/annurev.pp.10.060159.001255.
  • Philips R (1979). Trees of North America and Europe. New York, NY: Random House, Inc. ISBN 0-394-50259-0.
  • Earle, Christopher J., ed. (2018). "Pinus". The Gymnosperm Database.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.