Pinus Strobus, L.
White Pine.
Habitat and Range.—In fertile soils; moist woodlands or dry uplands.
Newfoundland and Nova Scotia, through Quebec and Ontario, to Lake Winnipeg.
New England,—common, from the vicinity of the seacoast to altitudes of 2500 feet, forming extensive forests.
South along the mountains to Georgia, ascending to 2500 feet in the Adirondacks and to 4300 in North Carolina; west to Minnesota and Iowa.
Habit.—The tallest tree and the stateliest conifer of the New England forest, ordinarily from 50 to 80 feet high and 2-4 feet in diameter at the ground, but in northern New England, where patches of the primeval forest still remain, attaining a diameter of 3-7 feet and a height ranging from 100 to 150 feet, rising in sombre majesty far above its deciduous neighbors; trunk straight, tapering very gradually; branches nearly horizontal, wide-spreading, in young trees in whorls usually of five, the whorls becoming more or less indistinct in old trees; branchlets and season's shoots slender; head cone-shaped, broad at the base, clothed with soft, delicate, bluish-green foliage; roots running horizontally near the surface, taking firm hold in rocky situations, extremely durable when exposed.
Bark.—On trunks of old trees thick, shallow-channeled, broad-ridged; on stems of young trees and upon branches smooth, greenish; season's shoots at first rusty-scurfy or puberulent, in late autumn becoming smooth and light russet brown.
Winter Buds and Leaves.—Leading branch-buds ¼-½ inch long, oblong or ovate-oblong, sharp-pointed; scales yellowish-brown.
Foliage leaves in clusters of five, slender, 3-5 inches long, soft bluish-green, needle-shaped, 3-sided, mucronate, each with a single fibrovascular bundle, sessile.
Inflorescence.—June. Sterile flowers at the base of the season's shoots, in clusters, each flower about one inch long, oval, light brown; stamens numerous; connectives scale-like: fertile flowers near the terminal bud of the season's shoots, long-stalked, cylindrical; scales pink-margined.
Fruit.—Cones, 4-6 inches long, short-stalked, narrow-cylindrical, often curved, finally pendent, green, maturing the second year; scales rather loose, scarcely thickened at the apex, not spiny; seeds winged, smooth.
Horticultural Value.—Hardy throughout New England; free from disease; grows well in almost any soil, but prefers a light fertile loam; in open ground retains its lower branches for many years. Good plants, grown from seed, are usually readily obtainable in nurseries; small collected plants from open ground can be moved in sods with little risk.
Several horticultural forms are occasionally cultivated which are distinguished by variations in foliage, trailing branches, dense and rounded heads, and dwarfed or cylindrical habits of growth.
Plate II. Pinus Strobus.
| 1. Branch with sterile flowers. |
| 2. Stamen. |
| 3. Branch with fertile flowers. |
| 4. Bract and ovuliferous scale, outer side. |
| 5. Ovuliferous scale with ovules, inner side. |
| 6. Branch with cones. |
| 7. Cross-section of leaf. |