344 NEW ENGLAND TREES IN WINTER. 



WHITE PINE 



Soft Pine, Weymouth Pine. 



Pinus Strobus L. 



HABIT The tallest conifer of New England, 50-80 ft. high with a 

 trunk diameter of 2-4 ft., in virgin forests of northern New England 

 trees have been found over 150 ft. in height with a trunk diameter of 7 

 ft.; trunk straight, tapering gradually, normally continuous into the 

 crown, with wide-spreading, horizontal limbs, in young trees generally 

 arising in whorls of five, and with secondary branches in the same plane, 

 producing characteristic horizontal layers; head broadly conical, spray 

 delicate, bluish-green. 



BARK On young trunks and branches, smooth, greenish-brown, 

 becoming fissured into comparatively shallow, broad, flat-topped, longi- 

 tudinal ridges. 



TWIGS Slender, light brown smooth or slightly hairy, resinous. 



LEAVES In clusters of 5, without sheaths in winter, soft, bluish- 

 green, flexible, 3-5 inches long, slender, 3-sided. MICROSCOPIC 

 SECTION showing a single fibre-vascular bundle, 1 or 2 peri- 

 pheral resin-ducts, a single layer of strengthening cells only beneath the 

 epidermis, stomata only on the two inner sides. 



BUDS Ovate to oblong, about 1 cm. long, sharp-pointed, bud-scales 

 long, pointed, yellowish-brown. 



FRUIT Cones, 4-10 inches long, stalked, drooping, cylindrical and 

 more or less curved. SCALES thin, not thickened at apex and without 

 spines. Seeds winged. 



COMPARISONS The White Pine is the only Pine of New England 

 that has 5 needles in a cluster. The layered arrangement of its 

 secondary branches enables it to be recognized as far as it can be seen. 

 Young trees can be further distinguished from the Pitch or Red Pines 

 by the greater delicacy and bluer color of the leafage. Frequently the 

 terminal bud of the central leader is killed by an insect, the Pine 

 Weevil, thus interrupting the growth and causing one or more of the 

 young lateral branches to grow erect to take its place. Gnarled old 

 specimens which have many times in their lifetime suffered these 

 insect injuries may present a rather picturesque appearance but are of 

 little value for lumber. The tree photographed perhaps had its leader 

 killed when young but despite the three erect limbs which have taken 

 the place of the single leader it still shows the outline characteristic 

 of the species. 



DISTRIBUTION In fertile soils; moist woodlands or dry uplands; 

 often planted for ornament, wind-breaks and for reforestation. New- 

 foundland and Nova Scotia, through Quebec and Ontario, to Lake 

 Winnipeg; south along the mountains to Georgia, ascending to 2,500 

 feet in the Adirondacks and to 4,300 feet in North Carolina; west to 

 Minnesota and Iowa. 



IN NEW ENGLAND Common, from the vicinity of the sea coast 

 to altitudes of 2,500 feet, forming extensive forests. 



IN CONNECTICUT Occasional near the coast becoming frequent 

 northward and common in northeastern Connecticut. 



WOOD Light, not strong, straight-grained, easily worked, light 

 brown often slightly tinged with red, largely manufactured into lumber, 

 shingles and lathes, used in construction, for cabinet-making, the in- 

 terior finish of buildings, woodenware, matches and the masts of ves- 

 sels. 



