Editing Pinus strobus (section)

== Description ==
Like most members of the [[Pinus subgenus Strobus|white pine group]], ''[[Pinus]]'' subgenus ''Strobus'', the [[leaves]] ("needles") are coniferous, occurring in fascicles (bundles) of five, or rarely three or four, with a [[deciduous]] [[fascicle sheath|sheath]]. The leaves are flexible, bluish-green, finely [[serrated]], and {{cvt|5|-|13|cm|in|frac=4}} long.

The [[seed cones]] are slender, {{cvt|8|-|16|cm|in|frac=4}} long (rarely longer than that) and {{cvt|4|-|5|cm|in|frac=4}} broad when open, and have scales with a rounded apex and slightly reflexed tip, often resinous. The [[seed]]s are {{cvt|4|-|5|mm|in|frac=32}} long, with a slender {{cvt|15|-|20|mm|in|frac=8}} wing, and are dispersed by wind. Cone production peaks every 3 to 5&nbsp;years.

The branches are spaced about every 18 inches on the trunk with five or six branches appearing like spokes on a wagon wheel. Eastern white pine is self-fertile, but seeds produced this way tend to result in weak, stunted, and malformed seedlings. Mature trees are often 200–250 years old, and some live over 400 years. A tree growing near [[Syracuse, New York]], was dated to 458 years old in the late 1980s and trees in Michigan and Wisconsin were dated to roughly 500 years old.

{{Gallery
|File:Pinus strobus needles3.jpg|Leaves (needles) of new shoots in late summer
|File:Pinus strobus Cone.jpg|A mature seed cone that has opened and released its seeds
|File:Eastern White Pine Pinus strobus Bark Vertical.JPG|Closeup of bark
|File:Malecones.jpg|[[Pollen cone]]s and young needles in late June
|File:Pinus strobus branches.jpg|Branch pattern
|File:Large eastern white Pine in Southern Ontario, Canada.jpg|Large white pine in [[Southern Ontario]], Canada
|File:Mature_White_Pine.jpg|Mature White Pine Cook Forest State Park
|File:Pinus strobus MHNT.2022.4.2.jpg|Cones and seeds
}}

=== Dimensions ===
[[File:Pinus strobus JPG1b.jpg|thumb|right|Measuring the circumference of an eastern white pine]]

The eastern white pine has been described as the tallest tree in eastern North America, perhaps sharing the prize with the deciduous [[Liriodendron tulipifera|tulip tree]] whose range overlaps with eastern white pine in a few areas. In natural [[pre-colonial America|precolonial]] stands, the pine was frequently reported to have grown as tall as {{cvt|70|m|ft}} or more. No means exist for accurately documenting the height of trees from these times, but eastern white pine may have reached this height on rare occasions. James Brown of [[Arniston, Midlothian|Arniston]], a forester and later Inspector of Woods and Forests, [[Port Elgin, Ontario]], Canada wrote in 1882:
 
''“In its native habitats this pine grows to very large dimensions. We have measured many of them as they lay felled on the ground and taking a number of them we found the stems average 150 feet long by 2 feet 9 inches diameter at 5 feet up from the bottom. This may be taken as an average of the size of the trees as they stand in their native parts ; but we have found many of them that measured 210 feet long with stems from 5 to 7 feet in diameter at 4 feet up from the bottom and on counting the annular layers on the stumps from which they were cut we found them to range between 350 and 425 which may be taken as representing the years of their age.”''<ref>{{cite book |last1=Brown |first1=James |title=The Forester: Or, A Practical Treatise on the Planting, Rearing, and General Management of Forest-trees |date=1882 |publisher=William Blackwood and Sons |location=Edinburgh and London |page=341 |edition=5th |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ymIDAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA341&dq=pinus+strobus+210+feet+length+lay&hl=en&ppis=_c&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiIz-SCn4LnAhVQgp4KHbTwApsQ6AEwAnoECAYQAg#v=onepage&q&f=false |access-date=21 March 2025}}</ref> 

Even greater heights and diameters have been reported in numerous early town and county histories, lumber journals, and popular, but unverifiable, accounts such as Robert Pike's ''Tall Trees, Tough Men''.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Pike |first1=Robert E. |title=Tall Trees, Tough Men |date=1999 |publisher=W. W. Norton & Company |location=New York , London |isbn=0-393-31917-2 |page=23 |edition=3rd |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Tall_Trees_Tough_Men/D_doBQAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=robert%20pike%20tough%20men%20tall%20trees%20pine&pg=PA23&printsec=frontcover |access-date=21 March 2025}}</ref>

Total trunk volumes of the largest specimens are around {{cvt|28|m3}}, with some past giants possibly reaching {{cvt|37|to|40|m3}}. Photographic analysis of giants suggests volumes closer to {{cvt|34|m3}}.{{citation needed|date=March 2023}}

==== Height ====
''P. strobus'' grows about {{cvt|1|m|ft}} annually between the ages of 15 and 45 years, with slower height increments before and after that age range.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Beck, D.E. |year=1971 |title=Height-Growth Patterns and Site Index of White Pine in the Southern Appalachians |journal=Forest Science |volume=17 |issue=2 |pages=252–260 |url=http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/saf/fs/1971/00000017/00000002/art00024 |access-date=2014-03-17 |archive-date=2014-03-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140317212325/http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/saf/fs/1971/00000017/00000002/art00024 |url-status=live }}</ref> The tallest presently living specimens are {{cvt|50|–|57.55|m|ftin}} tall, as determined by the [[Native Tree Society]] (NTS).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nativetreesociety.org/ |title=NTS—Native Tree Society |access-date=2009-11-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180817101700/http://www.nativetreesociety.org/ |archive-date=2018-08-17 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Prior to their exploitation, it was common for white pines in northern Wisconsin to reach heights of over {{cvt|200|ft|m|order=flip}}.<ref>{{cite book |last=Curtis |first=John |title=The Vegetation of Wisconsin: An Ordination of Plant Communities |year=1959 |publisher=The University of Wisconsin Press |location=Madison, WI |pages=[https://archive.org/details/vegetationofwisc0000curt/page/204 204]–205 |url=https://archive.org/details/vegetationofwisc0000curt |url-access=registration |isbn=9780299019402}}</ref> Three locations in the Southeastern United States and one site in the Northeastern United States have trees that are {{cvt|55|m|ft}} tall.{{where|date=September 2022}}{{citation needed|date=September 2022}}Common height of 80 feet or more.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Grimm |first=William Carey |title=The Book of Trees |publisher=The Stackpole Company |year=1966 |location=Harrisburg, Pennsylvania |pages=41 |language=en}}</ref>

The southern Appalachian Mountains have the most locations and the tallest trees in the present range of ''P. strobus''. One survivor is a specimen known as the "Boogerman Pine" in the [[Cataloochee (Great Smoky Mountains)|Cataloochee Valley]] of [[Great Smoky Mountains National Park]]. At {{cvt|57.55|m|ftin}} tall, it is the tallest accurately measured tree in North America east of the [[Rocky Mountains]]{{citation needed|date=March 2023}}, though this conflicts with citations for [[Liriodendron tulipifera]]. It has been climbed and measured by tape drop by the NTS. Before [[Hurricane Opal]] broke its top in October 1995, Boogerman Pine was {{cvt|63|m|ft}} tall, as determined by Will Blozan and Robert Leverett using ground-based measurements.

The tallest specimens in [[Hartwick Pines State Park]] in Michigan are {{cvt|45|–|48|m|ft}} tall.

In the northeastern USA, eight sites in four states currently have trees over {{cvt|48|m|ft}} tall, as confirmed by the NTS. The [[Cook Forest State Park]] of [[Pennsylvania]] has the most numerous collection of {{cvt|45|m|ft}} eastern white pines in the Northeast, with 110 trees measuring that height or more. The park's "Longfellow Pine" is the tallest presently living eastern white pine in the Northeast, at {{cvt|55.96|m|ftin}} tall, as determined by tape drop.<ref>Luthringer, D.J. 2009. Big Trees of Cook Forest. Pennsylvania Forests 100(3):8-12.</ref> The [[Mohawk Trail State Forest]] of Massachusetts has 83 trees measuring {{cvt|45|m|ft}} or more tall, of which six exceed {{cvt|48.8|m|ft}}. The "Jake Swamp Tree" located there is {{cvt|51.54|m|ftin}} tall.<ref>Jake Swamp Tree: 51.54m in August 2008.</ref><ref>The Jake Swamp Tree was climbed and measured by tape drop in November 1998 and October 2001. It was scheduled to be climbed and measured a third time in November 2008.</ref> The NTS maintains precise measurements of it. A private property in [[Claremont, New Hampshire]], has approximately 60 specimens that are at least {{cvt|45|m|ft}}, with the tallest being {{cvt|50.63|m|ft}}.<ref>https://wokq.com/old-strong-and-tall-heres-where-the-largest-tree-in-new-hampshire-lives/}</ref>

==== Diameter ====
[[Diameter at breast height|Diameters]] of the larger pines range from {{cvt|1.0|-|1.6|m|ftin}}, which translates to a circumference (girth) range of {{cvt|3.1|-|5.0|m|ftin}}. However, single-trunked white pines in both the Northeast and Southeast with diameters over {{cvt|1.45|m|ftin}} are exceedingly rare. Notable big pine sites of {{cvt|40|ha}} or less often have no more than two or three trees in the 1.2- to 1.4-m-diameter class. Common diameter of 2-3 feet.<ref name=":0" />

[[File:White pine shedding old foliage in autumn.jpg|thumb|left|White pine boughs, showing annual yellowing and [[abscission]] of older foliage in the autumn, upstate New York, USA]]

Unconfirmed reports from the colonial era gave diameters of virgin white pines of up to {{cvt|8|ft|m|order=flip}}.<ref name=ling>{{cite journal |last=Ling |first=H. |date=2003 |title=The Eastern White Pine |journal=Native Plant Society of NJ Newsletter Winter 2003 |pages=2–3}}</ref>