White Pines

Description:

like all members of the white pine group, Pinus subgenus Strobus, the leaves ('needles') are in fascicles (bundles) of five (rarely 3 or 4), with a deciduous sheath. They are flexible, bluish-green, finely serrated, and 5-13 centimeters (2–5 in) long, and persist for usually about 18 months. P. strobus cone The cones are slender, 8-16 centimeters (3–6 in) long (rarely longer than that) 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 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.

Habitat:

White pine forests originally covered much of northeastern North America, though only one percent of the original trees remain untouched by extensive logging operations operating from the 18th century into the early 20th century. Outside the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, other areas with known remaining virgin stands as confirmed by the Eastern Native Tree Society include Algonquin Provincial Park, Quetico Provincial Park in Ontario; Algoma Highlands, Ontario; Huron Mountains, Estivant Pines, Porcupine Mountains State Park, and the Sylvania Wilderness Area in Michigan's Upper Peninsula; Hartwick Pines State Park; Menomonie Indian Reservation, northeastern Wisconsin; Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, Minnesota; the Lost 40 Scientific and Natural Area (SNA) near Blackduck, 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 or individual specimens of old-growth eastern white pines are found across the range of the species, including at Ordway Pines, Maine; Ice Glen, Massachusetts; and on numerous sites within New York's Adirondack Park. Many sites with conspicuously large pines represent advanced old field succession. The tall white pine stands in Mohawk Trail State Forest and on the William Cullen Bryant homestead in Cummington, both in Massachusetts, are examples