Eastern White Pine

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Eastern White Pine

Conservation status
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Pinophyta
Class: Pinopsida
Order: Pinales
Family: Pinaceae
Genus: Pinus
Subgenus: Strobus
Species: P. strobus
Binomial name
Pinus strobus
L.

Eastern White Pine (Pinus strobus) is a large pine native to eastern North America, occurring from Newfoundland west to Minnesota and southeastern Manitoba, and south along the Appalachian Mountains to the extreme north of Georgia.

Contents

[edit] Description

Foliage
Foliage

It is a member of the white pine group, Pinus subgenus Strobus, and like all members of that group, the leaves ('needles') are in fascicles (bundles) of five, with a deciduous sheath. They are flexible, blue-green, finely serrated, and 5-13 centimeters (2-5 in) long, and persist for usually about 18 months. The cones are slender, 8-16 centimeters (3-6 in) long (rarely slightly longer) and 4-5 centimeters (1.5-2 in) broad when open, and have scales with a rounded apex and slightly reflexed tip. The seeds are 4-5 millimeters (3/16 in) long, with a slender 15-20 mm (3/4 in) wing, and are wind-dispersed. Cone production peaks every 3 to 5 years. Mature trees can easily be 200 years old and 250 is not unusual. Some white pines live over 400 years. A tree growing near Syracuse, New York was dated to 458 years in the mid-1990s and trees in Wisconsin and Michigan have approached 500 years in age. White pines prefer well-drained soil and cool, humid climates, but also grow in boggy areas and rocky highlands.

[edit] Range and Dimensions

A large Eastern White Pine cone
A large Eastern White Pine cone

Eastern White Pine is the tallest tree in eastern North America. White pine forests originally covered much of northeastern North America, though only one percent of the original trees remain untouched by extensive logging operations in the 1700s and 1800s. In natural pre-colonial stands it is reported to have grown to as tall as 70 meters (230 ft) tall - at least on rare occasions. Even greater heights have been attributed to the species, but the accounts are unverifiable. The current tallest pines typically reach to about 50 meters (160 ft). Within the Northeast, currently, 7 sites located in 4 states have been confirmed to have trees over 160 feet in height. The southern Appalachains have even more locations and the tallest pines. Three locations in the Southeast and one site in the Northeast have been identified with white pines to 55 meters (180 ft) tall. One survivor is a specimen known as the "Boogerman Pine" in the Cataloochee Valley, Great Smoky Mountains National Park. At 57.15 m (187.5 ft) tall, it is the tallest accurately measured tree in North America east of the Rocky Mountains. It has been climbed and measured by tape drop by the Eastern native Tree Society. Before it lost its top in Hurricane Opal in October 1995, the Boogerman Pine was 63 m (207 ft) tall. The current height champion white pine of the Northeast is the Longfellow Pine in Cook Forest State Park, PA. It also has been climbed and measured by tape drop. Its current height is 183.1 feet. Diameters of the larger pines range from 1.0-1.6 meters (3-5 ft). However, singled-trunk white pines in both the Northeast and Southeast with diameters over 4.5 feet are exceedingly rare. Total trunk volumes of the largest white pines are around 1,000 cubic feet with some past giants reaching possible 1,300 or 1,400 cubic feet. Outside the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, other areas with known remaining virgin stands include ([citation needed]) Algonquin Provincial Park, Ontario; Algoma Highlands, Ontario; Huron Mountains, Michigan ([[Upper Peninsula of Michigan|Upper Peninsula); Hartwick Pines in lower Michigan; Menomonie Indian Reservation, northeastern Wisconsin; Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, Minnesota; and White Pines State Park, Illinois, Cook Forest State Park, Hearts Conent Natural Area, and Anders Run, all in Pennsylvania; Linville Gorge, North Carolina. Small groves of old-growth pines are found: (1) on numerous sites within New York's Adirondack Park. Old-growth pines are found in the Ordway Pines, Maine; Ice Glen, Massachusetts. Many sites with conspicuously large pines represent advanced old field succssion. The tall white pine stands in Mohawk Trail State Forest and on the William Cullen Bryant Homstead in Cummington, both in Massachusetts, are examples. Mohawk Trail State Forest includes 82 white pines reaching 150 feet in height or more, of which, 6 exceed 160 feet. This is the largest collection of 150-foot class white pines in New England. Cook Forest State Park has the largest collection of 150-footers in the Northeast. At present 109 trees have been measured to heights of 150 feet or more.

Because the tree is somewhat resistant to fire, mature survivors are able to re-seed burned areas. In pure stands the trees usually have no branches on the lower half of the trunk. In mixed forests, this dominant tree towers over all others, including the large hardwoods. It provides food and shelter for forest birds such as the Common Crossbill and small mammals such as squirrels. The White Pine Weevil (Pissodes strobi) and White Pine Blister Rust (Cronartium ribicola), an introduced fungus, can damage or kill these trees.

[edit] Uses and symbolism

During the age of sail, the tall trees with their high quality wood were valued for masts, and many trees were marked in colonial times with the broad arrow, reserving them for the British Royal Navy. An unusual large, lone, white pine was found in colonial times, in coastal South Carolina along the Black River (far south of its normal range), and the king's mark was put upon this particular tree, giving rise to the town of Kingstree. The wood was often squared immediately after felling to fit in the holds of ships better.

Eastern White Pine is now widely grown in plantation forestry within its native area. Several cultivars have been developed for garden use, many of them dwarf with very slow growth. The species was imported into England by Captain George Weymouth in 1620, who planted it widely for a future timber crop, but the stand had little success because of White Pine Blister Rust disease.

Eastern White Pine is the provincial tree of Ontario and the state tree of Maine and Michigan and its "pine cone and tassel" is the "state flower" of Maine. Sprigs of Eastern White Pine were worn as badges as a symbol of Vermont identity during the Vermont Republic and appears in a stained glass window at the Vermont State House, on the Flag of Vermont and the naval ensign of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It is occasionally known as White Pine, Northern White Pine, or Soft Pine. It is also known as Weymouth Pine, especially in Britain. In addition, this tree is known to the Haudenosaunee Native Americans as the Tree of Great Peace.

White Pine needles contain five times the amount of Vitamin C (by weight) of lemons and make an excellent tisane. The cambium is edible. It is also a source of resveratrol.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

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