16 Native Trees of Canada 



In dense stands it produces a tall, slender tnink and a narrow, conical crown 

 of short, wide-spaced branches. The branches are usually slender and drooping, 

 but when growing in the open it frequently extends one or more stout, horizontal 

 branches 10 or 15 ft. beyond the others. This peculiar habit enables a person 

 to distinguish the tree from a considerable distance. 



The bark on young trees and branches is silvery-grey, thin, and smooth. On 

 older trees it is purplish to brown and broken into square blocks about 1 in. thick. 

 The inner bark has a cinnamon-red colour. Owing to the thinness of the bark the 

 tree is easily damaged by fire. Its fairly deep root-system protects it from serious 

 injury by strong winds. 



The leaves are bluish-green in colour and are borne in clusters of five. They 

 are from 2 to 4 in. long and, as a rule, shorter, coarser, and stiffer than those of the 

 white pine of the East. These two trees, having widely-separated ranges, are not 

 liable to be confused. The only five-needled trees within the range of this tree 

 are the limber pine and the white-barked pine. The general appearance of the 

 western white pine makes it easily distinguishable from these two trees. The 

 leaves of the limber and white-barked pines are more clustered at the ends of the 

 twigs. The cones of the two latter trees are different from those of the former, 

 and the trees are usually found growing at a higher elevation than the western 

 white pine. 



The cones of the western white pine are from 6 to 18 in. long and very much 

 larger than those of the white pine of the Hast, which they otherwise resemble. 



The tree is found throughout the southern part of British Columbia, includ- 

 ing Vancouver island, up to an elevation of about 6,000 ft. It is commonly found 

 on poor, sandy situations, but prefers deep, porous soils on slopes and in river 

 valleys. It is rarely found in pure stands, but is usually mixed with western 

 hemlock and Douglas and white firs. 



Lumber sawn from western white pine is similar to that of eastern white pine, 

 and is used for similar purposes. 



PINUS FLEXILIS, James LIMBER PINE 



Common names: Limber pine, Rocky Mountain pine. 

 French name: Pin blanc de I'Ouest. 



The limber pine is a tree 25 to 40 ft. high and 12 to 24 in. in diameter. The 

 trunk is short, thick, limby, and crooked and the crown is irregular, due to irregular 

 whorls of thick limbs. Much of the limber pine growth is little better than shrub- 

 bery. In old trees the lower branches are very long and hang down. The young 

 branches are exceedingly limber, hence the name. The wood is used locally only. 



The bark on young trees and branches is whitish-grey and smooth. On trees 

 over 12 in. in diameter it is dark brown, nearly 2 in. thick, and broken by deep 

 fissures into irregular plates. 



The leaves are borne in clusters of five and are IJ^ to 3 in. long. They are 

 dark green in colour, stout and rigid, and densely clustered at the ends of the 

 branches. 



