PNW Native
Western white pine grows up to 40 m / 120 ft tall, with smooth bark maturing into thick, scaly, dark-brown or black bark with a red-brown underlayer. Pine needles are in bunches of 5, light blue-green, bendy and slender, and are 5 – 10 cm / 2 - 4 in long. Seed cones are woody when mature, 10 – 25 cm / 6 – 10 in long, lacking prickles, and red-brown. When immature, seed cones range from chartreuse to purple and are cylindrical. Pollen cones are up to 1 cm / 0.5 in long and gather in clusters at branch ends. (3)
Western white pine provides very limited browse and forage, and it is only occasionally used by black-tailed deer during times of dietary stress in winter. However, western white pine provides crucial thermal cover, hiding ground, and nesting sites for birds and other mammals. (1)
Western white pine is scattered throughout other conifer forests in this region and will inhabit ecosystems ranging from wet valleys and coastal bogs to dry and open subalpine mountain slopes. (3)
Most western white pine trees seen today are young because of the epidemic of white pine blister rust, a fungus introduced in the early 1900s likely from Asia. This blight attacked and killed all five-needled species of pines, known as white pines, and decimated both eastern and western white pine populations in America. Currants were found to be a host for the blight, and during the Great Depression, currants populations were decimated as an attempt to save the white pine trees. This proved to be ineffective aside from giving people jobs and did not have any meaningful impact on the mass die-off of white pines. Currently, white pines and white pine blister rust are trapped in an evolutionary arms-race, with pines resistant to the fungus being more likely to survive but also with the blister rust co-evolving to overcome white pine’s developing resistance. Foresters aid in selective breeding for blight resistance. This story is seen frequently in ecosystems, and the rise of an increasingly-interconnected global society has the unfortunate consequence of causing an abundance of interactions between potential pests and hosts, characteristic of the Anthropocene. (4)
The soft inner cambium was eaten in the spring as a prized delicacy by Native Americans. They also wove bark baskets from white pine bark, chewed the pine resin, and used the pitch in a wound dressing poultice. (1)
Western white pine was widely used by Coast Salish people. Medicinally, the plant was used by Hoh, Quileute, Quinault, Lummi, and Skagit people amongst others. The Kwakwaka’wakw utilized the pitch to treat stomach ailments, sores, and coughs. Chewing pine gum was considered to boost women’s fertility, and some believed chewing pine gum could cause pregnancy without intercourse. A tea was made from the bark and drunk to treat stomach issues, rheumatism, tuberculosis, and to purify blood. Externally, white pine was applied to sores and cuts. The Sechelt used white pine pitch as a waterproofing and cleaning agent, and numerous interior tribes including the Okanogan, Ktunaxa, Stl’atl’imx, and Secwepemc as well as the Skagit, a northern Lushootseed Salish tribe, used white pine bark sheets to build small canoes and weave baskets. In Halqemeylem, the name for western white pine translates to “dancing tree”. (3) White pine was used in matmaking and as needles. Sheets of bark were harvested and stripped from live trees by the Secwepemc and the Ktunaxa. (5)
Light dugouts were rarely made from western white pine by the Upper Skagit. The Skagit medicinally boil young white pine shoots which a person suffering from rheumatism then bathes in to treat the ailment. The Lummi and Skagit make an infusion to treat tuberculosis, and the Quinault use the same preparation to treat stomach disorders and to purify blood. The Skagit considered boiling the pine infusion to be necessary for a sufficient treatment for cuts and sores. The Lummi and Skagit both chew the pine gum as chewing gum. (2)
This species was first identified to European settlers by David Douglas on the slopes of Mt. St. Helens. (3)
Western white pine is the state tree of Idaho. (4)
Western white pine forests are valuable as leisure and recreation sites. They are planted as ornamentals, and the pinecones are collected as novelties. (4)
Due to its nonresinous, straight grained, dimensionally stable, and lightweight nature, western white pine is a highly-valued timber species used in production of doors, window and door sashes, paneling, matches, toothpicks, and dimension stock. The wood is also lovely to carve and takes finish well. (1) During the peak of western white pine timber production, the majority of the wood was used for matchsticks. (4)
