Eastern White Pine State Tree of Maine and Michigan

The state tree of both Maine and Michigan is the Eastern White Pine (Pinus strobus). This tree is also known as northern white pine, white pine, northern pine, soft pine, Weymouth pine, and pin blanc. The white pine is found growing throughout much of the eastern half of the United States. The tree is hardy in Zones 3B to 7.

This native tree can achieve heights of 150 feet and diameters of 3 1/2 feet. If the trees are given enough space, branching can spread out to 60 feet. Trees can live for up to 400 years. The white pine is considered a fast growing tree and can climb to 60 feet in 40 years.

White pine is one of the trees that greeted the European settlers when they began moving away from the more populated eastern areas of the US in the early 1800s. The pine forests were heavily logged. In the eastern United States, the tall straight trunks were valued for use a masts on ships. For a time, the Royal Navy held first claim to forests. Pine was also a popular choice for building in the new wilderness towns and cities. Loggers found that white pine was light enough to float on the river trips to lumber mills. It cut easily, but was durable and decay resistant.

Today, re-growth is apparent in some previously open areas, and there are cultivated forests. In landscape settings, the white pine is not suitable for heavily compacted soils, urban pollution, heavy winds, and high pH soils.

The pyramidal shape has made the white pine a popular landscape tree, either en masse or as a specimen plant. The tree is also used for Bonsai art, planted as a hedge or screen, and as a Christmas tree. There is ground litter from the needles, but other than pruning out dead branches, there is little required maintenance. One outstanding feature of the white pine is branches that persist at ground level. Because the needles are susceptible to damage from salt spray, the white pine is not recommended for planting along roadways.

The white pine prefers acidic soils and can tolerate a pH of 4.0. The pine tree prefers full sun but can grow in some shade. The tree grows in a variety of soils from bogs and wetlands to the sand dunes of Michigan shores. The tree will survive in low nutrient soil but does not colonize as well as it would in richer soils.

The white pine can be found growing in the wild at sea level and elevations of 3,500 feet which makes it a good choice for land reclamation projects in mountainous regions. This pine tree will repopulate open spaces at a quick and steady enough pace to become the dominant or single species.

The white pine is important commercially. The soft wood is popular for internal trim work, doors, and furniture. There are managed forests to produce the wood. Controlled fires are used to clear away vegetation and kill the larvae of predator beetles.

The white pine has wide lateral roots. The tree is monoecious. The male flowers are yellow and grow near the ends of branches. The female flowers are light green and sometimes display a reddish tone. The pine cones can be 7 inches long and are covered with a resinous sap.

The white pine provides food and shelter to many animals. The seeds from pine cones are popular with birds, mice, and voles. The needles are eaten by rabbits and deer. Bald eagles are known to nest in the upper reaches of very tall pine trees. In forests with black bears, the white pine offers shelter form predators as cub bears climb to a safe height.

The white pine has predators. The tree can suffer from attacks by the white pine weevil, blister rust, pine needle miner, pine spittle bug, Zimmerman pine moth larvae, sawfly larvae caterpillars, and white pine cone beetle.

Sources
Pinus strobus, http://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/plants/tree/pinstr/all.html
Pinus strobus, University of Vermont, http://www.cnr.vt.edu/DENDRO/DENDROLOGY/syllabus/factsheet.cfm?ID=111
Pinus strobus, University of Florida, http://hort.ufl.edu/trees/PINSTRA.pdf
Pinus strobus, The Gymnosperm Database, http://www.conifers.org/pi/pin/strobus.htm
Logging, Minnesota Historical Society, http://www.mnhs.org/places/sites/fhc/logging.html
Pinus strobus, Ohio State University, http://hcs.osu.edu/hcs/TMI/Plantlist/pi_robus.html