Species of the Week: Eastern White Pine

Eastern White Pine or Pinus strobus, is an evergreen tree that can grow to about 230 feet and is a long-lived species with a life-span of around 200 years, sometimes as long as 450 years. Because of its thick bark, white pines are moderately fire resistant. Unfortunately, the Eastern white pine is vulnerable to the white pine weevil which is the cause of most of its destruction outside of human influence. White Pine is a fun tree to know about both because it occurs in our area and because it is pretty easy to identify; the needles occur in bundles of 5, which is easy to remember because there are 5 letters in the word white.

Other identifiers are their white stomata, identifiable as a white line on the underside of the needles, and the needles are usually about 3-5 inches. The cones of the white pine are about 3-6 inches long and are a light tan color, sometimes whitesh. This is a good species to keep an eye out for in and around campus as they are relatively easy to spot even in the snow or in the New England winter when many other species of plants are without leaves.