WHITEBARK PINE 



Pinus albicaulis Engelmann 



Whitebark pine, if growing in a favorable location, is somewhat 

 different in its habit of growth from most other pine trees. The 

 branches are flexible and often almost erect, the purple cones being 

 borne near their ends. The trunk is frequently two to four feet in 

 diameter, but the height of the tree is only twenty to thirty feet. This 

 pine is seldom found below 5,000 feet, and at timberline it grows as 

 a low and often creeping shrub. When in bloom the dainty pink 

 staminate flowers are very lovely. They shed their pollen freely. On 

 wind-swept summits this tree takes on weatherbeaten and fantastic 

 forms. 



Whitebark pine ranges from Wyoming to California and north to 

 Alberta and British Columbia. 



The branch sketched came from a tree which grew on the side of 

 the Yoho Valley, ten miles from Field, British Columbia, at an altitude 

 of 5,000 feet. 



plate 377 



