Eastern White Pine

Appearance

Like all members of the white pine group, "Pinus" subgenus "Strobus", the leaves are in fascicles of five, with a deciduous sheath. They are flexible, bluish-green, finely serrated, and 5–13 cm long, and persist for 18 months, i.e. from the spring of one season to the autumn of the next, when they are shed by abscission.

The cones are slender, 8–16 cm long and 4–5 cm 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 easily be 200 to 250 years old. Some white pines live over 400 years. A tree growing near Syracuse, New York was dated to 458 years in the late 1980s and trees in both Wisconsin and Michigan have approached 500 years in age.

Naming

This tree is known to the Native American Haudenosaunee as the "Tree of Peace". It is known as the Weymouth pine in the United Kingdom, after George Weymouth who brought it to England in 1620.

Distribution

"Pinus strobus" is found in the Nearctic Temperate broadleaf and mixed forests Biome of eastern North America. It prefers well-drained soil and cool, humid climates, but can also grow in boggy areas and rocky highlands.

In mixed forests, this dominant tree towers over all others, including the large broadleaf hardwoods. It provides food and shelter for numerous forest birds, such as the Red Crossbill, and small mammals such as squirrels.

Eastern white pine forests originally covered much of northeastern North America. Only one percent of the old-growth forests remain after the extensive logging operations that existed from the 18th century into the early 20th century.

Old-growth forests, or virgin stands, are protected in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Other protected areas with known virgin forests, as confirmed by the Eastern Native Tree Society, include: Algonquin Provincial Park, Quetico Provincial Park, and Algoma Highlands, Ontario; Huron Mountains, Estivant Pines, Porcupine Mountains State Park, and the Sylvania Wilderness Area in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan; Hartwick Pines State Park in the Lower Peninsula of Michigan; Menominee Indian Reservation, northeastern Wisconsin; the Lost 40 Scientific and Natural Area near Blackduck, and Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, Minnesota; White Pines State Park, Illinois; Cook Forest State Park, Hearts Content Scenic Area, and Anders Run Natural Area, Pennsylvania; and the Linville Gorge Wilderness, North Carolina.

Small groves or individual specimens of old-growth eastern white pines are found across the range of the species, including: Ordway Pines, Maine; Ice Glen, Massachusetts; and numerous sites in Adirondack Park, New York. Many sites with conspicuously large pines represent advanced old field succession. The tall white pine stands in the Mohawk Trail State Forest and at the William Cullen Bryant Homestead in Massachusetts are old field examples.

As an introduced species, "Pinus strobus" is now naturalizing in the Outer Eastern Carpathians subdivision of the Carpathian Mountains, in the Czech Republic and southern Poland. It has spread from specimens planted as ornamental trees in gardens and parks.

Predators

Because the eastern white pine tree is somewhat resistant to fire, mature survivors are able to re-seed burned areas. In pure stands mature trees usually have no branches on the lower half of the trunk. The white pine weevil and White Pine Blister Rust, an introduced fungus, can damage or kill these trees.

Uses

Eastern white pine needles contain five times the amount of Vitamin C of lemons and make an excellent tisane. The cambium is edible. It is also a source of resveratrol. Linnaeus noted in the 18th century that cattle and pigs fed pine bark bread grew well, but he personally did not like the taste. Caterpillars of Lusk's Pinemoth have been found to feed only on "Pinus strobus".

Pine tar is produced by slowly burning pine roots, branches, or small trunks in a partially smothered flame. Pine tar mixed with beer can be used to remove tapeworms or nematodes. Pine tar mixed with sulfur is useful to treat dandruff, and marketed in present day products. Pine tar can also be processed to make turpentine.

The name “Adirondack” is an Iroquois word which means tree-eater and referred to their neighbors who collected the inner bark of this tree, "Picea rubens", and others during times of winter starvation. The white soft inner bark was carefully separated from the hard, dark brown bark and dried. When pounded this product can be used as flour or added to stretch other starchy products.

The young staminate cones were stewed by the Ojibwe Indians with meat and were said to be sweet and not pitchy. In addition, the seeds are sweet and nutritious, but not as tasty as those of some of the western nut pines.

Pine resin has been used by various tribes to waterproof baskets, pails, and boats. The Chippewa also used pine resin to successfully treat infections and even gangrenous wounds. This is because pine resin apparently has a number of quite efficient antimicrobials. Generally a wet pulp from the inner bark was applied to wounds, or pine tar mixed with beeswax or butter and used as a salve was, to prevent infection.