348 NEW ENGLAND TREES IN WINTER. 



JACK PINE 



Northern Scrub Pine, Gray Pine, Spruce Pine. 



Pinus Banksiana Lamb. 



P. divaricata auth. 



HABIT Usually a low tree 15-30 ft. in height with a trunk diameter 

 of 6-8 inches, under favorable conditions becoming 50-60 ft. high with 

 a trunk diameter of 10-15 inches; with large spreading branches forming 

 an open symmetrical head resembling somewhat the Spruce in regular- 

 ity of outline or on exposed windy situations and in poor soil becoming 

 stunted with gnarled stem and irregular scraggly distorted head. 



BARK Dark reddish-brown with irregular rounded ridges roughened 

 with close scales. 



TWIGS Rather slender, reddish to purplish brown, not downy, rough- 

 ened by scales subtending leaf-clusters. 



LEAVES In clusters of 2, with short persistent sheaths, dark 

 yellowish-green, ^-1^ inches long, stout, stiff, generally curved and 

 twisted, flattened or concave on one side, rounded on the other, tip 

 pointed. MICROSCOPIC SECTION showing 2 widely separated 

 fibro-vascular bundles, resin-ducts located intermediate between bundles 

 and periphery, a single layer of strengthening cells around the resin- 

 ducts and one or more layers beneath the epidermis. 



BUDS Ovate, short-pointed, coated more or less thickly with resin. 



FRUIT Cones 1-2 inches long, without stalks, conic-oblong usually 

 curved and pointing forward, appearing between or sometimes at the 

 whorls of lateral branches, more or less distorted, remaining closed 

 for several years, persisting on the tree often for a dozen years. 

 SCALES in young cones with an incurved prickle, when mature 

 thickened at the apex without spines or prickles. 



COMPARISONS The short yellowish-green needles of the Jack Pine 

 will distinguish this species from other Pines. The longest needles some- 

 times approach in size short needles of the Scotch Pine, but those of 

 the Scotch Pine are of a bluish-green color and moreover their cones 

 point backward instead of forward as in the Jack Pine. 



DISTRIBUTION Sterile, sandy soil; lowlands, boggy plains, rocky 

 slopes. Nova Scotia, northwesterly to the Athabasca river, and north- 

 erly down the Mackenzie to the Arctic circle; west through northern 

 New York, northern Illinois, and Michigan to Minnesota. 



IN NEW ENGLAND Maine Traveller Mountain and Grand Lake; 

 Deal's Island on Washington county coast, Harrington, Orland, and 

 Cape Rosier; Schoodic peninsula in Gouldsboro, a forest 30 ft. high; 

 Flagstaff; east branch of Penobscot; the Forks; Lake Umbagog; New 

 Hampshire around the shores of Lake Umbagog, on points extending 

 into the lake, rare; Welch mountains; Vermont rare, but few trees 

 at each station; Monkton in Addison county; Fairfax, Franklin county; 

 Starkesboro. 



IN CONNECTICUT Not reported. 



WOOD Light, soft, not strong, close-grained, clear pale brown or 

 rarely orange color with a thick nearly white sapwood; used for fuel 

 and occasionally for railroad ties and posts; occasionally manufactured 

 Into lumber. 



