Aleppo/Brutia

[akillas]

Greetings,

I purchased 20 pine trees(most are similar to the one in the photo) for a discounted price, but i have great difficulty telling apart Aleppo Pine(Pinus Halepensis) from Turkish Pine(Pinus brutia)

I understand its relatively easy to tell for big trees, but these are small and their foliage varies. The bark also is quite similar when young, confusing all my plant ID apps and AI.

Could anyone help me understand and separate these two species? I can tell other pines apart but aleppo/brutia are quite similar and i also saw mentions of hybrids in the wild(locally) making it even harder.

 

[Shibui]

The 2 species appear to be closely related so differences are minor. I believe it can even be difficult to separate adult trees.
There's still some controversy down here about the true ID for trees that have originated from seed brought back by a survivor of the WW1 Gallipoli battle in Turkey, They are now known as the 'Lone Pine' and used as a symbol of the returned soldiers leagues but we still have competing claims as to which species it really is.

My experience of P. halepensis is that it juvenile foliage persists for a number of years and foliage will revert to juvenile growth after hard pruning for many more years after that.
I have never grown P. brutia so I have no idea if there are any key markers to differentiate the 2 species as younger trees.