ArborNote’s Tree of the Week is the Mugo Pine (Pinus mugo). This little tree is a species of conifer, native to high elevation habitats from southwestern to Central Europe and Southeast Europe. It is usually found from 3,281–7,218 ft, occasionally as low as 656 ft in the north of the range in Germany and Poland, and as high as 8,858 ft in the south of the range in Bulgaria and the Pyrenees! In Scandinavia, Finland and the Baltic region, the Mugo Pine was introduced in the late 1700s and the 1800s, when it was planted in coastal regions for sand dune stabilization, and later as ornamental plants around residences. In Denmark, Norway and Sweden, the species has naturalised and become invasive, displacing fragile dune and dune heath habitats. The mugo pine can be used in cooking. The cones can be made into a syrup called “pinecone syrup”, “pine cone syrup”, or mugolio. Buds and young cones are harvested from the wild in the spring and left to dry in the sun over the summer and into autumn. The cones and buds gradually drip syrup, which is then boiled down to a concentrate and combined with sugar. It is also used in Japanese garden style landscapes, and for larger bonsai specimens because of its unique trunk, where lots of little off shoots come off of one root below the ground.