White Pine Tree

 

PINE TREES

PART 1

White Pine Tree

 

 

The white pine tree is the tallest pine tree in the USA.  The height of a white pine in full maturity has been known to reach 230 feet tall.  That makes the Eastern White Pine the tallest in the northeast.  The tallest tree in Michigan is known to be 157 feet.  Making it the tallest tree in the 8 state radius.

 

The white pine is also called the Weymouth pine.

The white pine is used for many things.  The most common use for the white pine is its lumber.  It is trucked to sawmills and made into wooden slabs.  The lumber is a white color. 

 

 

White pine bark is smooth and silvery when young.  In the picture above you can notice a more mature tree bark.  The trunk has a dark or "blackish" look to it.  Like all pine trees the inner bark is used in Native American medicine.

 

The average width (diameter) of a White Pine is 3-5 feet.

 

 

 

 

So to see if you can spot a white pine you need to find a coniferous tree with a set of 5 needles.  The needles are 2-5in long.

 

 The white pine is beautiful species of tree, it is my favorite.  So many animals benefit from white pines.  We also tend to see large raptor birds and eagles perched on their large branches.  

 

Raptor Nests...

(Cooper's Hawk nest)

Eagles nest and perch...

 

Hawk's nest and scan the area for prey...

 

 

  The pine cones are 6-8 inches long.  From a distance in a group of pine trees the white pine tree looks darker than the rest.   

 

There are two things that I know of that can kill a white pine. And those two things are a pine weevil and blister rust.

 

On your next drive or hike, see if you can spot this magnificent pine tree.

 

 

 

***Mom Notes***

 

The White Pine happens to be Maine's State Tree so HERE is a free coloring page of the white pine.  Look at a few of our projects here of the white pine.

 

 



 

Tree of Study Links:
Pines
White Pine
Red Pine
Jack Pine
Ponderosa Pine
Sugar Pine
Hemlock
Blue Spruce