White Bark Pine 



13 



Fig. 



White Bark Pine. 



maximum height is 18 meters, with a trunk diameter of 1.2 meters, but it is often 

 reduced at the highest altitudes to a spreading shrub. 



The branches are stout and flexible, in regular whorls forming a compact 

 cone; ^'cr^ old trees are often irregular 

 and round-headed. The bark is about 

 12 mm. thick, narrowly fissured into light 

 brown or whitish scales, which on faUing 

 expose a reddish inner layer; on younger 

 stems it is much thinner and almost 

 white. The twigs are stout, smooth or 

 nearly so, except for the persistent bud- 

 scales, orange-colored or dark reddish 

 brown. The branch-buds are broadly 

 ovate, sharp-pointed and covered by 

 loosely imbricated pale brown scales; 

 they are 12 mm. long, or the lateral ones 

 much smaller. The leaves are in fasci- 

 cles of 5, the sheaths soon disappearing; 

 they are dark green, stout and stiff, 

 slightly curv^ed, 4 to 7.5 cm. long, sharply 



stiff-pointed and entire, marked with i to 3 rows of stomata on the upper faces 

 and contain 2 resin passages and a single fibrovascular bundle; they are crowded 

 at the ends of the otherwise naked branches and persist for five to eight years. 

 The flowers open in July, the staminate, in short spike-like clusters surrounding 

 the ends of the twigs, are oval, about 10 mm. long, their anthers scarlet. The 

 pistillate flowers are oblong, about 8 mm. in diameter and sessile, clustered at the 

 apex of the twigs, their scales bright scarlet. The young cones grow very slowly 

 the first season, but more rapidly the second summer, becoming horizontal and 

 mature by the end of September, oval or subglobose, 8 to 10 cm. long and pur- 

 ple; they seldom open, but remain closed for some time, after which they break 

 up; the ends of the much thickened scales gradually taper and contract on both 

 sides into a sharp edge and tenninate in a stout, irregular, somewhat incurved 

 darker tip. The seeds are oTate-subcyhndric, sharp-pointed, sometimes flat- 

 tened on one side, 8 to 12 mm. long, dark brown and hard, the margin a narrow 

 border; wing very thin, light colored and very narrow, remaining attached to the 

 cone-scales when the seed is hberated ; cotyledons 7 to 9. 



The wood is soft, brittle, close-grained and light brown; its specific gravity is 

 about 0.42. 



The seed is sweet and is a favorite food for the birds of the region, especially 

 the crow, who tears the cones to pieces before they are cjuite ripe, to get at the 

 young seeds; the Indians also gather them for food. 



This pine has received many names, among them White stem pine. Scrub pine, 

 Pitch pine. White bark. Creeping pine, Alpine white pine, and Alpine ^vhite bark pine. 



