Pinus Strobus Traditional Geocache
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Size: 
(small)
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The Eastern white pine (Pinus strobus) is a large pine native to eastern North America, occurring from Newfoundland west to Minnesota and southeastern Manitoba, and south along the Appalachian Mountains to the extreme north of Georgia. It is occasionally known as simply White Pine, Northern White Pine, or Soft Pine. In addition, this tree is known to the Haudenosaunee Native Americans as the Tree of Great Peace.
The needles are in fascicles (bundles) of five, with a deciduous sheath. They are flexible, bluish-green, finely serrated, and 2-5 inches long, and persist for usually about 18 months.
The cones are slender, 3-6 inches long and 1.5-2 inches broad when open.
Mature trees can easily be 200 to 250 years old. Some white pines live over 400 years. A tree growing near Syracuse, New York was dated to 458 years in the late 1980s and trees in Wisconsin and Michigan have approached 500 years in age.
White pines prefer well-drained soil and cool, humid climates, but also grow in boggy areas and rocky highlands. In mixed forests, this dominant tree towers over all others, including the large hardwoods. It provides food and shelter for forest birds and mammals.
White pine forests originally covered much of northeastern North America, though only one percent of the original trees remain untouched by extensive logging operations in the 1700s and 1800s. Outside of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, other areas with known remaining virgin stands include Quetico Provincial Park in Ontario and Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in Minnesota
The eastern white pine has the distinction of being the tallest tree in eastern North America. In natural pre-colonial stands it is reported to have grown to as tall as 70 meters (230 ft) tall, at least on rare occasions.
Diameters of the larger pines range from 3-5 ft. However, singled-trunk white pines in both the Northeast and Southeast with diameters over 4.75 ft are exceedingly rare.
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