Western white pine

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Western white pine
Pinus monticola
Pinus monticola Idaho3.jpg
Western white pine (center)
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Gymnospermae
Division: Pinophyta
Class: Pinopsida
Order: Pinales
Family: Pinaceae
Genus: Pinus
Subgenus: P. subg. Strobus
Section: P. sect. Quinquefoliae
Subsection: P. subsect. Strobus
Species:
P. monticola
Binomial name
Pinus monticola
Pinus monticola range map 1.png

Western white pine (Pinus monticola), also called silver pine [2] and California mountain pine, [2] is a species of pine in the family Pinaceae. It occurs in mountain ranges of northwestern North America and is the state tree of Idaho.

Contents

Description

Western white pine is a large tree, regularly growing to 30–50 metres (98–164 ft) tall. 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, [3] with a deciduous sheath. The needles are finely serrated, [3] and 5–13 cm (2–5 in) long. The cones, appearing even on young trees, are long and slender, [3] 12–32 cm (4+3⁄4–12+1⁄2 in) long and 3–4 cm (1+1⁄4–1+1⁄2 in) broad (closed), opening to 5–8 cm (2–3+1⁄4 in) broad; the scales are thin and flexible. The seeds are small, 4–7 mm (3⁄16–1⁄4 in) long, and have a long slender wing 15–22 mm (9⁄16–7⁄8 in) long.

The branches are borne in regular whorls, [3] produced at the rate of one a year; this is pronounced in narrow, stand-grown trees, while open specimens may have a more rounded form with wide-reaching limbs. When mature, the tree has bark that appears to be cut into small, checkered units. [3]

Similar species

It is related to the Eastern white pine (Pinus strobus), [3] differing from it in having larger cones, slightly longer-lasting leaves (2–3 years, rather than 1.5–2 years) with more prominent stomatal bands, and a somewhat denser and narrower habit.

Distribution

The species occurs in humid areas of the mountains of the Western United States and Western Canada [3] such as the Sierra Nevada, the Cascade Range, the Coast Range, and the northern Rocky Mountains. It can be found in elevations of 600 to 1,800 meters (2,000 to 5,900 ft) above sea level in eastern Washington and Oregon's Blue Mountains [3] and 1,800 to 3,100 metres (5,900 to 10,200 ft) on the western face of the Sierra Nevada as far south as the headwaters of the Kern River. [4] [3] The tree often occurs in forests with fir and hemlock species, especially those which are tolerant of shade. [3] It benefits from disturbances that clear away competing species, including low fires that do not destroy all of its cone-protected seeds. [3] It is also well adapted to poor, rocky soils. [3]

Ecology

Once abundant in northern Idaho, Western white pine's population was drastically affected from the late 19th century to the late 20th century by logging, wildfires, white pine blister rust, and a bark beetle epidemic. [3] Since 1970, millions of Western white pine seedlings have been planted to make up for the losses. [3]

The white pine blister rust (Cronartium ribicola) is a fungus that was accidentally introduced from Europe in 1909. The United States Forest Service estimates that 90% of the Western white pines have been killed by the blister rust west of the Cascades. Large stands have been succeeded by other pines or non-pine species. The rust has also killed much of the whitebark pine outside of California. Blister rust is less severe in California, and Western white and whitebark pines have survived there in great numbers.

Resistance to the blister rust is genetic; due to Western white pine's genetic variability, some individuals are relatively unaffected. The Forest Service has a program for locating and breeding rust-resistant Western white pine and sugar pine. Seedlings of these trees have been introduced into the wild.

Uses

The gum was reportedly chewed by Native Americans to treat coughs. The pitch was used to fasten arrowheads and coat fishing and whaling instruments. [3] European colonists used both Western and Eastern white pine as softwood lumber. [3] Both species are considered excellent for molding and carving. [3] First the Eastern and then the Western species were used in the building of transcontinental railroads in the late 19th century. [3] In the early 20th century, white pine was used to build houses and make matches. [3]

Western white pine is widely grown as an ornamental tree. [5]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pine</span> Genus of plants in the conifer family Pinaceae

A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus Pinus of the family Pinaceae. Pinus is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clark's nutcracker</span> Species of bird

Clark's nutcracker, sometimes referred to as Clark's crow or woodpecker crow, is a passerine bird in the family Corvidae, native to the mountains of western North America. The nutcracker is an omnivore, but subsists mainly on pine nuts, burying seeds in the ground in the summer and then retrieving them in the winter by memory. The bird was described by the Lewis and Clark Expedition, with William Clark first observing it in 1805 along the banks of the Salmon River, a tributary of the Columbia River.

<i>Pinus albicaulis</i> Pine tree species found in North America

Pinus albicaulis, known by the common names whitebark pine, white bark pine, white pine, pitch pine, scrub pine, and creeping pine, is a conifer tree native to the mountains of the western United States and Canada, specifically subalpine areas of the Sierra Nevada, Cascade Range, Pacific Coast Ranges, and Rocky Mountains. It shares the common name "creeping pine" with several other plants.

<i>Pinus lambertiana</i> Pine tree found in North America

Pinus lambertiana is the tallest and most massive pine tree, and has the longest cones of any conifer. The species name lambertiana was given by the Scottish botanist David Douglas, who named the tree in honour of the English botanist, Aylmer Bourke Lambert. It is native to coastal and inland mountain areas along the Pacific coast of North America, as far north as Oregon and as far south as Baja California in Mexico.

<i>Pinus jeffreyi</i> Pine tree found in North America

Pinus jeffreyi, also known as Jeffrey pine, Jeffrey's pine, yellow pine and black pine, is a North American pine tree. It is mainly found in California, but also in the westernmost part of Nevada, southwestern Oregon, and northern Baja California. It is named in honor of its botanist documenter John Jeffrey.

<i>Pinus peuce</i> Species of plant

Pinus peuce is a species of pine native to the mountains of North Macedonia, Bulgaria, Albania, Montenegro, Kosovo, the extreme southwest of Serbia, and the extreme north of Greece, growing typically at (600-) 1,000-2,200 (-2,300) m altitude. It often reaches the alpine tree line in this area. The mature size is up to 35–40 m height, and 1.5 m trunk diameter. However, the height of the tree diminishes strongly near the upper tree line and may even obtain shrub sizes.

<i>Pinus flexilis</i> Pine tree found in North America

Pinus flexilis, the limber pine, is a species of pine tree-the family Pinaceae that occurs in the mountains of the Western United States, Mexico, and Canada. It is also called Rocky Mountain white pine.

<i>Pinus strobus</i> Species of conifer in the pine family Pinaceae

Pinus strobus, commonly called the eastern white pine, northern white pine, white pine, Weymouth pine (British), and soft pine is a large pine native to eastern North America. It occurs from Newfoundland, Canada, west through the Great Lakes region to southeastern Manitoba and Minnesota, United States, and south along the Appalachian Mountains and upper Piedmont to northernmost Georgia and perhaps very rarely in some of the higher elevations in northeastern Alabama. It is considered rare in Indiana.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jack pine</span> Species of tree

Jack pine, also known as grey pine or scrub pine, is a North American pine.

<i>Pinus ponderosa</i> Species of large pine tree in North America

Pinus ponderosa, commonly known as the ponderosa pine, bull pine, blackjack pine, western yellow-pine, or filipinus pine is a very large pine tree species of variable habitat native to mountainous regions of western North America. It is the most widely distributed pine species in North America.

<i>Pinus longaeva</i> Long-living species of bristlecone pine tree found in the western United States

Pinus longaeva is a long-living species of bristlecone pine tree found in the higher mountains of California, Nevada, and Utah. Methuselah is a bristlecone pine that is 4,855 years old and has been credited as the oldest known living non-clonal organism on Earth. To protect it, the exact location of this tree is kept secret. In 1987, the bristlecone pine was designated one of Nevada's state trees.

<i>Pinus cembra</i> Species of plant

Pinus cembra, also known as Swiss pine, Swiss stone pine, Arolla pine, Austrian stone pine, or just stone pine, is a species of pine tree in the subgenus Strobus.

<i>Pinus sibirica</i> Species of conifer

Pinus sibirica, or Siberian pine, in the family Pinaceae is a species of pine tree that occurs in Siberia from 58°E in the Ural Mountains east to 126°E in the Stanovoy Range in southern Sakha Republic, and from Igarka at 68°N in the lower Yenisei valley, south to 45°N in central Mongolia.

<i>Pinus edulis</i> Species of plant

Pinus edulis, the Colorado pinyon, two-needle piñon, pinyon pine, or simply piñon, is a pine in the pinyon pine group native to the Southwestern United States, used for its edible pine nuts.

<i>Pinus ayacahuite</i> Species of conifer

Pinus ayacahuite, also called ayacahuite pine and Mexican white pine, is a species of pine native to the mountains of southern Mexico and western Central America, in the Sierra Madre del Sur mountains and the eastern end of the Eje Volcánico Transversal, between 14° and 21°N latitude in the Mexican states of Guerrero, Oaxaca, Puebla, Veracruz and Chiapas, and in Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras. It grows on relatively moist areas with summer rainfalls, however specimens from its eastern and southern distribution live under really wet conditions; it needs full sun and well drained soils. Its temperature needs fluctuate between 19 and 10 °C on average a year. This tree accepts from subtropical to cool climate.

<i>Pinus monophylla</i> Pine tree found in North America

Pinus monophylla, the single-leaf pinyon, is a pine in the pinyon pine group, native to North America. The range is in southernmost Idaho, western Utah, Arizona, southwest New Mexico, Nevada, eastern and southern California and northern Baja California.

<i>Cronartium ribicola</i> Species of rust fungus

Cronartium ribicola is a species of rust fungus in the family Cronartiaceae that causes the disease white pine blister rust. Other names include: Rouille vésiculeuse du pin blanc (French), white pine Blasenrost (German), moho ampolla del pino blanco (Spanish).

<i>Pinus maximartinezii</i> Species of conifer

Pinus maximartinezii, called Martinez pinyon, big-cone pinyon or maxipiñon, is a pine in the pinyon pine group, native to west-central Mexico.

<i>Pseudotsuga menziesii <span style="font-style:normal;">var.</span> menziesii</i> Variety of conifer

Pseudotsuga menziesii var. menziesii, commonly known as Coast Douglas-fir, Pacific Douglas-fir, Oregon pine, or Douglas spruce, is an evergreen conifer native to western North America from west-central British Columbia, Canada southward to central California, United States. In Oregon and Washington its range is continuous from the Cascades crest west to the Pacific Coast Ranges and Pacific Ocean. In California, it is found in the Klamath and California Coast Ranges as far south as the Santa Lucia Mountains with a small stand as far south as the Purisima Hills, Santa Barbara County. In the Sierra Nevada it ranges as far south as the Yosemite region. It occurs from near sea level along the coast to 1,800 metres (5,900 ft) in the California Mountains. Further inland, coast Douglas-fir is replaced by Rocky Mountain or interior Douglas-fir. Interior Douglas-fir intergrades with coast Douglas-fir in the Cascades of northern Washington and southern British Columbia.

Both naturally and artificially occurring pine species (Pinus) can hybridize, combining their genetic material and sometimes creating hybrids that can be more or less vigorous than their parent species. An example of a naturally occurring hybrid pine is Pinus × sondereggeri, a naturally occurring cross between loblolly pine and longleaf pine. An example of the many artificial hybrids is Pinus lambertiana × P. armandii.

References

  1. ↑ Farjon, A. (2013). "Pinus monticola". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2013: e.T42383A2976604. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2013-1.RLTS.T42383A2976604.en . Retrieved 19 November 2021.
  2. 1 2 "Pinus monticola". Germplasm Resources Information Network . Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture . Retrieved 2017-12-15.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 Arno, Stephen F.; Hammerly, Ramona P. (2020) [1977]. Northwest Trees: Identifying & Understanding the Region's Native Trees (field guide ed.). Seattle: Mountaineers Books. pp. 25–30. ISBN   978-1-68051-329-5. OCLC   1141235469.
  4. ↑ Moore, Gerry; Kershner, Bruce; Craig Tufts; Daniel Mathews; Gil Nelson; Spellenberg, Richard; Thieret, John W.; Terry Purinton; Block, Andrew (2008). National Wildlife Federation Field Guide to Trees of North America. New York: Sterling. p. 78. ISBN   978-1402738753.
  5. ↑ "Pinus monticola (western white pine) description - The Gymnosperm Database". www.conifers.org. Retrieved 2024-05-05.

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