Eastern White Pine

From BWCAWiki

Eastern White Pine (Pinus strobus) is a large pine native to eastern North America, occurring from Newfoundland west to Minnesota and southeasternmost Manitoba, and south along the Appalachian Mountains to the extreme north of Georgia. The Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness is near the western limit of its range.

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 cm (2-5 in) long, and persist for usually about 18 months. The cones are slender, 8-16 cm (3-6 in) long (rarely slightly longer) and 4-5 cm (1.5-2 in) broad when open, and have scales with a rounded apex and slightly reflexed tip. The seeds are 4-5 mm long, with a slender 15-20 mm wing, and are wind-dispersed. Cone production peaks every 3 to 5 years. Mature trees can be 200 years old; some live as long as 400 years. It prefers well-drained soil and cool, humid climates, but also grows in boggy areas and rocky highlands.

Eastern White Pine is the tallest tree in eastern North America. In natural pre-colonial stands it grew to about 70 m (230 ft) tall, but current trees typically reach 30-50 m (100 - 160 ft) tall with a diameter of 1-1.6 m (3-5 ft). White pine forests originally covered much of northeastern North America, though few of the original trees remain untouched by extensive logging operations in the 1700s and 1800s to harvest the valuable wood.

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.

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