WHITE PINE
Pinus strobus, L.
Form.—Height 50-100 feet, diameter 2-4 feet; trunk when in close stands long, straight, and free from limbs; limbs arranged in whorls.
Leaves.—Arranged in clusters of 5, slender, 3-sided mucronate, 3-5 inches long, blue-green when mature.
Flowers.—May; monoecious; the staminate oval, light brown one-third inch long, clustered at base of new growth; the pistillate catkins in small groups or solitary along the new growth, cylindrical, about ¼ inch long, pink.
Fruit.—Cones maturing in autumn of second year, drooping, cylindrical, often curved, 4-6 inches long, scales thin without spines; seeds red-brown mottled with black spots, ¼ inch long with wings 1 inch long.
Bark.—On young branches smooth, green, often with red tinge; on old trunks thick, divided by shallow fissures into wide flat-topped ridges covered with purplish scales.
Wood.—Soft, weak, straight-grained, easily worked, not durable in contact with the ground, light brown with whitish sapwood.
Range.—Newfoundland and Manitoba to Pennsylvania, Indiana and Iowa, and south along the Alleghany mountains to northern Georgia.
Distribution in West Virginia.—Originally abundant in parts of Pocahontas, Greenbrier, Raleigh, and Tucker counties, and sparingly distributed in all the counties east of the Alleghanies, and in Gilmer, Jackson, Monongalia, Preston, Ritchie, Tyler, Wetzel, and Wirt counties. Now becoming rare.
Habitat.—Prefers fertile, well-drained soil, but will grow in all soils and situations excepting swamps and dry wind-swept ridges.
Notes.—White Pine is easily distinguished from all other native species by the leaves which are in clusters of five. This tree is one of the most valuable and beautiful of the conifers. Its wood is extensively used for shingles, construction, cabinet work, woodenware, matches, etc. As an ornamental tree it is especially attractive. A fungous disease, the white pine blister rust, threatens to destroy the species.