Pine, White

Standing before you is the great White Pine or Pinus strobus. This large tree, commonly reaching 100 feet tall, has a deep history including ties to the American Revolution. Back when settlers first came to North America, the British Government was marking all White Pines with a diameter greater than 12 inches, with the King's Broad Arrow, reserving them as ship-building material. While most governors of the colonies were not strictly enforcing this law, the governor of New Hampshire was, fining all settlers that cut down White Pines for their sawmills. This angered the residents of New Hampshire so on April 14, 1772, a group of men in Weare, NH who refused to pay their fines, drove the sherriff out of their town at gunpoint. This is the first spark of American defiance to the British Crown, which later led to the Boston Tea Party and eventually, the American Revolution. Sharing many attributes of the Red Pine, there is one major way to tell the two trees apart. Just like the number of letters in the word white, the White Pine has five needles per cluster while the Red Pine only has 2 needles per cluster. The needles of the White Pine are dark green and about 6 inches long. The mature bark of the tree is dark grayish brown in color with broad ridges and deep furrows. Yellow pollen cones and seed conelets appear in spring leading to the production of 6 inch long cones that are brown in color. This grandiose tree plays an important part in the ecosystem, but also in the history of this country.