Eastern White Pine

Pinus strobus

Identification Information

Date: Sunday, June 13, 2021

Time: 5:30 p.m.

Location:  Hunsicker’s Grove (9350 Longswamp Road, Mertztown, PA 19539)

Habitat:  Temperate Mixed Forest, dominated by Hickory-Oak

Weather conditions:  75 degrees Fahrenheit, slightly humid, cloudy skies 

Right at my feet... an identification of a tree!  The pine cones of Eastern White Pines are notable and unique: long (about 6 inches), slightly curved, scales without prickles.  And surrounding the old cone were fallen needles--some still in their bundles of 5.  

(Brockman, 1986, p. 22)

This tree might have reached 50 feet.  The clusters of needles on the tree are shed once every year and a half.  

Branches of White Pines are about one and a half feet apart going up the trunk.  They are often described as coming out like spokes of a wagon wheel.

Pinus strobus. (2021, May 14). Wikipedia. Retrieved June 15, 2021, from https://en.wikipedia.org/ 

     wiki/Pinus_strobus 

"Before I had done I was more the friend than the foe of the pine tree, though I had cut down some of them, having become better acquainted with it." (Walden - Thoreau)