Pinus strobus
White Pine
Family Pinaceae
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Use
Tea, candy, flour, cooked vegetable. A tea can be made from the
finely chopped needles. Young shoots can be prepared as candy
by stripping the needles, peeling, boiling until tender, and them simmering
in sugary syrup for 20-30min. In an emergency, the male cones can be boiled
and eaten, and flour can be made from dried and ground inner bark.
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Description
Growth Form: Large tree.
Needles: 6-13cm (2.5-5in) long, slender needles, arranged in bundles of 5, evergreen.
Cones: Male cones (catkins) small, produce pollen. Female cones are woody, 7.5-20cm (3-8in) long, cylindrical, golden or light brown, round cone-scales.
Bark: Dark, rough and deeply furrowed.
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Leaves
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Female cones
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Habitat and Range
Sandy soils from Manitoba and Newfoundland south to Iowa and Georgia.
Season
Shoots, inner bark, and male cones should be harvested in spring. The needles can be harvested year round.
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Fun Facts
Tea made from the needles is high in vitamins A and C.
Branches grow in horizontal whorls, adding a new whorl each year.
All pines can be used in the ways outlined above.
Tea made from the needles is high in vitamins A and C.
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Male cones (catkins),
(c) Dan L. Perlman/EcoLibrary.org.
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The White Pine is the largest conifer, and the state tree of Maine.
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