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Red Pine

Pinus resinosa

Traditional Indigenous Names 4

Cree: Nikwátiko
Ojibwe: Zhingwaak Bapakwanagemag
Dakota: Wazichan
Michif: Pinet roozh

Summary from Wikipedia 5

Pinus resinosa, known as red pine or Norway pine, is a pine native to North America. It occurs from Newfoundland west to Manitoba, and south to Pennsylvania, with several smaller, disjunct populations occurring in the Appalachian Mountains in Virginia and West Virginia, as well as a few small pockets in extreme northern New Jersey and northern Illinois.

Easy identifiers 4

Red Pine can be identified as a pine because their needles do not grow individually on a branch but instead in clusters. Red Pine needles grows in pairs and are long. This characteristic separates them from other Canadian pine such as jack pine which has short needles, and eastern white pine which join to the branch in clusters of five. They may also be identified by their bark which has a red or pink appearance to it, hence their name, Red Pine.

Form 4

A large evergreen tree with a round symmetrical, open crown; devoid of lower branches especially in dense stands, branches nearly horizontal.

Bark 4

Reddish-brown with smooth, broad, scaly plates.

Twigs 4

Opposite or single, light brown but soon darkening, stout, roughened by projecting leaf bases. Buds up to 2 centimetres (3/4 inch) long with many reddish-brown scales with tips turned back.

Leaves 4

Needle-like, 10 - 16 centimetres (4 - 6 inches) long, in clusters of two with a brown sheath at base, soft, minutely-toothed.

Flowers 4

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

Fruit 4

A stalkless egg-shaped cone, 4 - 7 centimetres (1 1/2 - 2 inches) long; scales thickened at outer edge but not barbed.

Occurrence 4

In dry habitats in southeastern Manitoba, also on Black Island, Lake Winnipeg; not common.

Fun facts 4

In Manitoba and other parts of Canada like Ontario, Red Pine was a popular tree to use for plantations and reforestation. There are some areas where they can be seen planted in parallel rows. Red Pine wood is often used to make structural support beams because of their strength.
The red pine’s nice long needles make it a desirable tree to be grown as Christmas trees.

Sources and Credits

  1. (c) Manitoba Forestry, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Manitoba Forestry
  2. (c) timmenzies on Flickr, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pinus_resinosa_foliagecone.jpg
  3. (c) Eli Sagor, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), https://www.flickr.com/photos/esagor/17106743650/
  4. (c) Manitoba Forestry, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)
  5. Adapted by Manitoba Forestry from a work by (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinus_resinosa

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