Handbook of Trees of the. Noethekn States and Canada. 



The White Pine is one of the tallest trees 

 of the forests of northeastern America, some- 

 times attaining the height of 200 ft. with a 

 long columnar trunk 3-5 ft. in diameter. 

 When growing in the open it develops a wide 

 pyramidal head easily distinguished from all 

 other Pines by its bluish green fine-needled 

 foliage and the dark deeply furrowed bark 

 with which the large trunks are vested. It 

 once constituted the bulk of large tracts of 

 forest, but being by far the most valuable 

 timber tree of its range these tracts have been 

 largely cleared away to meet the needs and 

 wastes of a growing population, and now only 

 occasional monaichs, towering head and 

 shoulders above the surrounding foi'ests of 

 other growth, suggest the magniflcance of the 

 primeval Pine forests. Fortunately it is quick 

 to reproduce itself and many tracts of land, 

 where cultivation has been neglected, become 

 quickly covered with its new second growth. 



The wood of the White Pine is the most 



valuable of the Pines for house finishing, 



window-sash, blinds, etc. It is light, soft, verj' 



easily worked, durable and of a light pinkish 



brown color with thin lighter sap-wood. A 



cubic foot when absolutely dry weighs 24.02 



Ibs.i 



Leaves in clusters of 5, with loose-scaled de- 

 ciduous sheaths, very slender, 3-.5 in. long, pale 

 bluish green with 3-.5 rows of ventral stomata, 

 peripheral resin-ducts and a single flbro-vascular 

 bundle ; branchlets smooth, regdish green. Floivers: 

 starainate yellow, about % in. long ; pistillate 

 pinkish purple, erect, terminal, pedunculate. 

 Fruit: cones become drooping and about half 

 grown at the close of the first season, 4-10 in. 

 long at maturity, long-stalked, cylindric and often 

 curved, with fhin unarmed scales and liberating 

 their seeds in September ; seeds about V^ in. long, 

 mottled and with large wings. ^ 



1. A. W., II, 49. 



2. For genus see p. 419. 



