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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

Description

Range and Dimensions

Uses and symbolism

References

External links

Description

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.

Range and Dimensions

Eastern White Pine has the distinction of being 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 reach to between 50 and 55 meters (160 - 180 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 (ENTS). 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. Within New England, a tree in the Mohawk Trail State Forest known as the Jake Swamp Tree is 169 feet tall as of June 2007. The Jake Swamp tree is the tallest in New England. It was climbed and tape drop-measured in November 1998 and again in October 2001. Precise measurements are maintained on this tree by ENTS.
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 4.75 feet are exceedingly rare. Notable big pine sites of 100 acres or less will often have no more than 2 or 3 trees in the 4 to 4.5-foot diameter class. A typical large white pine will be in the 10-12-foot cirecumference range.

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. Photographic analysis of giant pines suggests volumes closer to 1,200 cubic feet. Outside the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, other areas with known remaining virgin stands include () Algonquin Provincial Park, Ontario; Algoma Highlands, Ontario; Huron Mountains, Michigan (Upper Peninsula); Hartwick Pines in lower Michigan;