Pinus resinosa description

Pinus resinosa Aiton 1789

Common Names

Red pine, Norway pine, pin rouge (2).

Taxonomic notes

Description

"Trees to 37 m; trunk to 1.5 m diam., straight; crown narrowly rounded. Bark light red-brown, furrowed and cross-checked into irregularly rectangular, scaly plates. Branches spreading-ascending; twigs moderately slender (to 1cm thick), orange- to red-brown, aging darker brown, rough. Buds ovoid-acuminate, red-brown, to ca. 2 cm, resinous; scale margins fringed. Leaves 2 per fascicle, straight or slightly twisted, brittle, breaking cleanly when bent, deep yellow-green, all surfaces with narrow stomatal bands, margins serrulate, apex short-conic, acute; sheath 1-2.5 cm, base persistent. Pollen cones ellipsoid, ca. 15mm, dark purple. Seed cones maturing and opening in 2 years, spreading, symmetric, ovoid before opening, broadly ovoid to nearly globose when open, 3.5-6 cm, light red-brown, nearly sessile; apophyses slightly thickened, slightly raised, transversely low-keeled; umbo central, centrally depressed, unarmed. Seeds ovoid; body 3-5 mm, brown; wing to 20 mm. 2n=24" (2).

Range

Canada: Manitoba, Ontario, Québec, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland; and USA: Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. Occurs on sandy soils at 200-800(1300)m, chiefly in boreal forests (2).

Big Tree

Diameter 100 cm, height 38 m, crown spread 18 m, located in Watersmeet, MI (1).

Oldest

Dendrochronology

Ethnobotany

It was once the most important timber pine in the Great Lakes region (2).

Observations

Have seen in Killarney Provincial Park, Ontario. It can probably be seen in most American and Canadian National Parks within its range.

Remarks

Norway pine is the state tree of Minnesota (2). It was called "Norway" for the homeland of the men who logged it.

Citations

(1) American Forests. 1996. The 1996-1997 National Register of Big Trees. Washington, DC: American Forests.

(2) Kral in Flora of North America online.