Whenever I look at pictures of Rome I always marvel at the Umbrella Pines (also called Stone PInes). They look so humorous to me, like something out of a Dr. Seuss book. ⁣

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I was looking at some today amongst the ruins of the Forum and I wondered how long they've been there. In my mind i was trying to imagine the Forum in it's day at the beginning of the first millennium juxtaposed with these lofty pines, but I knew they couldn't be over a thousand years old. ⁣

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The ones I was looking at line Via dei Fori Imperiali from Piazza Venezia along the Roman Forum all the way down to the Colosseum. There are a few thousand of these Umbrella Pines along this stretch and fanning outwards. And pine nuts from these pine cones are linked with Ancient Romans so they must have had some kind of pine tree. As it turns out this stretch of road was installed by Mussolini and he is also credited with the planting of these pine trees, so they are only about 90 years old and their lifespan under normal conditions is up to 300 years. ⁣

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But sadly there is a tragedy looming. The western conifer seed bug accidentally arrived in the 1990's with a cargo of wood and has already infested most of western Italy's pine forests. In some cities they have had no choice but to cut the trees down or the risk is they fall down, which has also happened, flattening cars and in one case killing a motorist. ⁣

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In the case of Rome there is a project just starting to introduce ladybugs/ladybirds to help combat the pest.