365 Urban Species. #049: Eastern White Pine

[urbpan]

Urban species #049: Eastern white pine Pinus strobus

Eastern white pine has been a valuable and important tree in New England for centuries. Before the revolution, the British navy found its straight tall trunks perfect for the masts of its ships. During the revolution, the resource was a point of contention, and the white pine was featured on several revolutionary flags of New England.

The twentieth century development of Boston's neighborhoods was fueled by white pine from New Hampshire. Millions of trees were felled from the forests of the White Mountains to build countless wooden triple-decker residences in Cambridge, and especially Somerville, which is still the most densely populated city in the United States.

Despite intensive harvesting, the white pine is still the most common conifer in New England, and it is also the tallest. It towers above the other trees in the forests of the Boston suburban area, and appears in some neighborhoods of the city. The white pine above is in Cambridge near Harvard Square.



White pine needles come in bundles of five.

Comments

[artemii.livejournal.com]

standalone white pines are also very susceptible to a moth that lays its eggs in their branches. upon hatching, the larvae eat the pulp from the inside outwards, causing branches to fall down (as the larvae tend to girdle them) and rotting the tree enough to leave it susceptible to other damage. it's why white pines are arguably the most likely suburban tree to fall and hit something without first suffering storm damage. (one recently fell on the NH cabin of a friend of mine)

"arrowy white pines"

[(Anonymous)]

I can't think of Eastern White Pine without a reference popping up from one of my favorite books: "Near the end of March, 1845, I borrowed an axe and went down to the woods by Walden Pond, nearest to where I intended to build my house, and began to cut down some tall, arrowy white pines, still in their youth, for timber...

gribley
http://kittlybenders.blogspot.com

Re: "arrowy white pines"

[(Anonymous)]

They make great aeries for birds of prey, too:

"The most alive is the wildest" (http://sisu.typepad.com/sisu/2004/05/post_3.html)

Sissy Willis
sisu (http://sisu.typepad.com)