Distribution map (USGS 1999.

Pinus monticola

Douglas ex D. Don 1832

Common names

Western white pine; silver, soft, fingercone, mountain, Idaho, or little sugar pine (Peattie 1950); pin argenté (Kral 1993).

Taxonomic notes

Syn: Strobus monticola (Douglas ex D. Don) Rydberg (Kral 1993).

Description

Trees 30(70) m tall and 100(250) cm in diameter, straight; crown narrowly conic, becoming broad and flattened. Bark grey and thin, smooth, becoming furrowed into distinctive rectangular to hexagonal scaly plates in large individuals. Branches nearly whorled, spreading-ascending; twigs slender, pale red-brown, rusty puberulent and slightly glandular (rarely glabrous), aging purple-brown or gray, smooth. Buds ellipsoid or cylindric, rust-colored, 0.4-0.5cm, slightly resinous. Needles 5 per fascicle, spreading to ascending, persisting 3-4 years, 4-10 cm x 0.7-1 mm, straight, slightly twisted, pliant, blue-green, abaxial surface without evident stomatal lines, adaxial surfaces with evident stomatal lines, margins finely serrulate, apex broadly to narrowly acute; sheath 1-1.5 cm, shed early. Staminate cones ellipsoid, 10-15 mm, yellow. Ovulate cones maturing in 2 years, shedding seeds and falling soon thereafter, clustered, pendent, symmetric, lance-cylindric to ellipsoid-cylindric before opening, broadly lanceoloid to ellipsoid-cylindric when open, 10-25 cm, creamy brown to yellowish, without purple or gray tints, resinous, stalks to 2 cm; umbo terminal, depressed. Seeds compressed, broadly obovoid-deltoid; body 5-7 mm, red-brown; wing 2-2.5 cm. 2n=24 (Kral 1993, Little 1980).

Range

Western USA: Washington, Montana, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, California; and Canada: Alberta, British Columbia; to 1000 m in N, and at 1900-3000 m in the S. Occurs in lowland fog forests or on moist mountain soils, occasionally in forested bogs. Usually in mixed conifer forests, occasionally in pure stands (Kral 1993, Little 1980). See also Thompson et al. (1999).

Big tree

The biggest stem volume is found in the Fish Lake Pine, which grows near Fish Lake in Rogue River National Forest, Oregon. It has a stem volume of 91 m³, a dbh of 205 cm and is 67.7 meters tall. Formerly, all the really big white pines grew in Idaho, but they have been largely destroyed by logging and white pine blister rust. The remaining giant Idaho pines are in the Floodwood State Forest, where you can find the Floodwood Giant (52 m³ stem volume, dbh 201 cm, height 69.2 meters) and the tallest known white pine, reaching 70.7 meters high (Van Pelt 2000).

Oldest

Harlow and Harrar (1969) report a maximum age of 615 years. The source is not stated, but most of their measurements are from ring counts on stumps.

Dendrochronology

Ethnobotany

Once the preferred wood for matches (Kral 1993), it is no longer a major timber tree.

Observations

It is the only big pine in western Washington and northwest Oregon, and seems to be easily found in inland coniferous forests throughout that area.

Remarks

White pine blister rust (Cronartium ribicola), an introduced fungal disease, has decimated formerly extensive stands of this and certain other white pines (Little 1980).

This species is the principal host for the dwarf mistletoe Arceuthobium monticola (Hawksworth and Wiens 1996).

Western white pine is the state tree of Idaho (Kral 1993).

Citations

Harlow, W.M., and E.S. Harrar. 1969. Textbook of Dendrology. 5th Edition. McGraw-Hill. pp 313.