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Jack Pine

Pinus banksiana

Traditional Indigenous Names 5

Cree: Oskatátik
Ojibwe: Akikaandag
Dakota: Wazichan
Ojibwe-Cree: Ohkihkaahtik
Dene: Geneh
Michif: Aen pinet

Summary from Wikipedia 6

Jack pine (Pinus banksiana) is an eastern North American pine. Its native range in Canada is east of the Rocky Mountains from the Mackenzie River in the Northwest Territories to Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia, and the north-central and northeast of the United States from Minnesota to Maine, with the southernmost part of the range just into northwest Indiana and northwest Pennsylvania. It is also known as grey pine and scrub pine.

Easy identifiers 5

Jack Pine needles grow in bundles of two and are fairly short, a cross section of a needle has one flat side and one curved side. Jack pine branches are usually curved slightly upwards and their crown is usually more focused at the top of the tree leaving the bottom half of its trunk with few or no branches.
Jack Pine trees can also be easily identified by their tightly closed cones that often remain on the tree for long periods of time.

Form 5

A medium-sized evergreen tree with a narrow, open crown; crown rather small in dense stands but becomes bushy extending to near the ground in open areas.

Bark 5

Brownish with thin irregularly furrowed scales.

Twigs 5

Whorled, reddish-brown, slender, usually with narrow elongated ridges, slightly roughened by leaf bases. Buds about 15 millimetres (1/4 inch) long, with many small, brown, sticky scales.

Leaves 5

Needle-like, 2 - 4 centimetres (3/4 - 2 inches) long, stiff, in clusters of two with a brown sheath at base, sometimes minutely toothed.

Flowers 5

May, in clusters near tip of twig, yellow or purple, elongated.

Fruit 5

A brown cone 3 - 7 centimetres (1 - 3 inches) long, usually curved, occurring in pairs, scales thickened at tips, cones persist on the trees, usually remaining closed.

Occurrence 5

Very common in dry-to-moist habitats throughout the forested region.

Fun Facts 5

Jack Pine cones usually only open under high heat, making them good at restoring their population after a forest fire. When the fire burns through a group of Jack Pine trees, all their cones open and release seeds, the seeds then grow naturally and repopulate the forest.

Sources and Credits

  1. (c) Manitoba Forestry, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Manitoba Forestry
  2. (c) Tarra, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Tarra
  3. (c) Superior National Forest, some rights reserved (CC BY), https://www.flickr.com/photos/superiornationalforest/5098080118/
  4. (c) S. Rae, some rights reserved (CC BY), https://www.flickr.com/photos/35142635@N05/15705943874/
  5. (c) Manitoba Forestry, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)
  6. Adapted by Manitoba Forestry from a work by (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinus_banksiana

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