Eastern White Pine: Pinus stobus
One of the things that has drawn me to tree identification is that it is challenging. Every time I think I know something or that identification will be easy, I dig deeper and find that there are many varieties of trees in the same family that have similar characteristics. The Eastern White Pine is no exception. I saw this tree in Huntington on my way to Ritter Park and thought there is a pine tree, that should be easy to identify. Upon referencing my National Audubon Society Field Guide I realized there are dozens of of varieties of pine trees. So much for just saying it is a pine tree!
The reason I immediately identified it as a pine tree was because of its long needles and somewhat Christmas Tree shape. What I discovered by closely examining the needles is that this particular variety has five needles bundled together. Most other varieties have 2-3 needs bundled together. As you can see from the picture below it was nearly impossible to get an up close picture of the trunk because of the numerous branches fingering from the trunk in a weaving pattern.
White pine has historically been a tree that has been cultivated and harvested for its lumber as it is soft wood and is easy to work and cut. The boards are normally knot free and are still used in plywood, paneling, flooring and lumber. It also has medicinal uses and its needles can be made into tea. The needles have more vitamin C that an equivalent weight of lemon and the cambium is a source of resveratrol, a naturally occurring chemical compound with probable health benefits.
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| Flexible, bluish-green, finely serrated needles in bundles of 5. |
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