Eastern White Pine: Graceful Tall Silhouette of Pinus strobus

Summary: Pinus strobus, known as Eastern white pine, is a New World tree native to eastern North America. Its graceful silhouette towers across space and time.

Pinus strobus, from the Park Loop Road looking towards the Porcupine Islands, Acadia National Park, Maine: Harvey Barrison from Massapequa, NY, CC BY SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Pinus strobus is a New World pine tree native to eastern North America.

In Canada, the tall tree towers in habitats from the prairie province of Manitoba eastward to the coast, with the exception of Labrador.

In the United States, the rapidly growing tree dominates landscapes from the Eastern Seaboard -- except for Florida -- westward to the midwestern states of Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, and, skipping over Mississippi, to Arkansas.

Pinus strobus is known by the common names Eastern white pine, northern white pine, soft pine, white pine and Weymouth pine (in the United Kingdom).

The elegant pine presents a graceful silhouette that is favored in private and public gardens.

Eastern white pine is a coniferous (Latin: conifer, "cone-bearing"), resinous evergreen.

Its flexible, velvety needles, with a maximum length of about 5 inches (12.7 centimeters), cluster in bundles of five.

A variety of birds, from Cooper's hawks (Accipiter cooperii) to northern saw-whet owls (Aegolius acadicus) to northern cardinals (Cardinalis cardinalis) and purple finches (Haemorhous purpureus), enjoy sheltering in the tree's capacious branches.

Wildlife, including songbirds, such as chickadees (Poecile ssp) and brown thrashers (Toxostoma rufum), and small mammals, such as gray squirrels (Sciurus ssp) and red-backed voles (Myodes ssp), feature Eastern white pine seeds in their diets.

Eastern white pines enjoy status as governmental symbols.

Ontario in east central Canada recognizes the resinous tree as provincial tree.

Maine and Michigan in the northern United States accord state tree status to the long-lived conifer.

Three Eastern white pines grace my yard. The easternmost stands at the driveway entrance as a welcome sentinel. The other two grow within a few feet of each other at the northern extent of the retaining wall which braces the southeast terrace.

As long-lived evergreens, Pinus strobus may thrive for two to almost five centuries. With their vibrant health, I expect them to outlive me, despite the unwelcome sight of several hefty branches felled by 20 inches of snow weight from three merciless snowstorms.

closeup of Eastern white pine's bundled needles; high vitamin C content favors the needles' popular preparation in hot (not boiling) water as  a tea remedy for colds: Robert H. Mohlenbrock/hosted by USDA NRCS Wetland Science Institute, Public Domain, via USDA NRCS PLANTS Database

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Pinus strobus, from the Park Loop Road looking towards the Porcupine Islands, Acadia National Park, Maine: Harvey Barrison from Massapequa, NY, CC BY SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pinus_strobus_Acadia_0352.jpg

closeup of bundled Eastern white pine needles: Robert H. Mohlenbrock/hosted by USDA NRCS Wetland Science Institute, Public Domain, via USDA NRCS PLANTS Database @ http://plants.usda.gov/java/largeImage?imageID=pist_002_ahp.tif

For further information:

"Bald Eagle Nests in Eastern White Pine: Pinus strobus is favorite tree." Earth and Space News. Saturday, April 18, 2015.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2015/04/bald-eagle-nests-in-eastern-white-pine.html

Mohlenbrock, Robert H. Northeast Wetland Flora: Field Office Guide to Plant Species. Chester PA: Northeast National Technical Center, 1995.

"Pinus strobus." US Forest Service > Fire Effects Information System (FEIS) Database > Plants > Tree.
Available @ http://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/plants/tree/pinstr/all.html