Western white pine (''Pinus monticola''), also called silver pine and California mountain pine, is a species of

pine A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family (biology), family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. The World Flora Online created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanic ...

in the family

Pinaceae The Pinaceae, or pine family, are conifer trees or shrubs, including many of the well-known conifers of commercial importance such as cedars, firs, hemlocks, larches, pines and spruces. The family is included in the order Pinales, formerly know ...

. It occurs in mountain ranges of northwestern North America. It is the state tree of

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and W ...

Description

Western white pine is a large tree, regularly growing to tall. It is a member of the white pine group, ''

Pinus A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. The World Flora Online created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanical Garden a ...

'' subgenus '' Strobus'', and like all members of that group, the leaves ('needles') are in fascicles (bundles) of five, with a deciduous sheath. The needles are finely serrated, and long. The cones, appearing even on young trees, are long and slender, long and broad (closed), opening to broad; the scales are thin and flexible. The seeds are small, long, and have a long slender wing long. The branches are borne in regular whorls, produced at the rate of one a year; this is pronounced in narrow, stand-grown trees, while open specimens may have a more rounded form with wide-reaching limbs. When mature, the tree has bark that appears to be cut into small, checkered units.

Similar species

It is related to the Eastern white pine (''Pinus strobus''), differing from it in having larger cones, slightly longer-lasting leaves (2–3 years, rather than 1.5–2 years) with more prominent stomatal bands, and a somewhat denser and narrower habit.

Distribution

The species occurs in humid areas of the mountains of the

Western United States The Western United States (also called the American West, the Far West, and the West) is the region comprising the westernmost states of the United States. As American settlement in the U.S. expanded westward, the meaning of the term ''the Wes ...

and

Western Canada Western Canada, also referred to as the Western provinces, Canadian West or the Western provinces of Canada, and commonly known within Canada as the West, is a Canadian region that includes the four western provinces just north of the Canada� ...

such as the Sierra Nevada, the Cascade Range, the Coast Range, and the northern

Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico in ...

. It can be found in elevations of above sea level in eastern Washington and Oregon's Blue Mountains and on the western face of the Sierra Nevada as far south as the headwaters of the

Kern River The Kern River, previously Rio de San Felipe, later La Porciuncula, is an #Endangered River Status, Endangered, National Wild and Scenic Rivers System, Wild and Scenic river in the U.S. state of California, approximately long. It drains an are ...

. The tree often occurs in forests with

fir Firs (''Abies'') are a genus of 48–56 species of evergreen coniferous trees in the family (biology), family Pinaceae. They are found on mountains throughout much of North America, North and Central America, Europe, Asia, and North Africa. The ...

and hemlock species, especially those which are tolerant of shade. It benefits from disturbances that clear away competing species, including low fires that do not destroy all of its cone-protected seeds. It is also well adapted to poor, rocky soils.

Ecology

Once abundant in northern Idaho, Western white pine's population was drastically affected from the late 19th century to the late 20th century by logging, wildfires, white pine blister rust, and a

bark beetle A bark beetle is the common name for the subfamily of beetles Scolytinae. Previously, this was considered a distinct family (Scolytidae), but is now understood to be a specialized clade of the "true weevil" family ( Curculionidae). Although t ...

epidemic. Since 1970, millions of Western white pine seedlings have been planted to make up for the losses. The white pine blister rust (''Cronartium ribicola'') is a fungus that was accidentally introduced from

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located enti ...

in 1909. The

United States Forest Service The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands. The Forest Service manages of land. Major divisions of the agency inc ...

estimates that 90% of the Western white pines have been killed by the blister rust west of the Cascades. Large stands have been succeeded by other pines or non-pine species. The rust has also killed much of the whitebark pine outside of

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...

. Blister rust is less severe in California, and Western white and whitebark pines have survived there in great numbers. Resistance to the blister rust is genetic; due to Western white pine's genetic variability, some individuals are relatively unaffected. The Forest Service has a program for locating and breeding rust-resistant Western white pine and sugar pine. Seedlings of these trees have been introduced into the wild.

Uses

The gum was reportedly chewed by Native Americans to treat coughs. The pitch was used to fasten arrowheads and coat fishing and whaling instruments. European colonists used both Western and

Eastern white pine ''Pinus strobus'', commonly called the eastern white pine, northern white pine, white pine, Weymouth pine (British), and soft pine is a large pine native to eastern North America. It occurs from Newfoundland (island), Newfoundland, Canada west ...

as softwood lumber. Both species are considered excellent for molding and carving. First the Eastern and then the Western species were used in the building of

transcontinental railroad A transcontinental railroad or transcontinental railway is contiguous railroad trackage, that crosses a continental land mass and has terminals at different oceans or continental borders. Such networks can be via the tracks of either a single ...

s in the late 19th century. In the early 20th century, white pine was used to build houses and make matches. Western white pine is widely grown as an

ornamental tree Ornamental plants or garden plants are plants that are primarily grown for their beauty but also for qualities such as scent or how they shape physical space. Many flowering plants and garden varieties tend to be specially bred cultivars that ...

References

External links

*
Jepson Manual treatment – ''Pinus monticola''
* {{Taxonbar, from=Q261309 Pinus Pinus taxa by common names Trees of the Northwestern United States Trees of the Southwestern United States Trees of Alberta Trees of British Columbia Flora of the Sierra Nevada (United States) Symbols of Idaho