Transformational Gardening

Eastern White Pine (Pinus strobus)


Identification Food & Medicinal Uses Web Page Links Online Videos References


Identification

Images from the USDA Plant Database for Eastern White Pine
E.S. Shipp @ USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database Leland J. Prater @ USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database J.S. Peterson @ USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database J.S. Peterson @ USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database USDA PLANTS DB / Britton, NL & Brown 1913 Steve Hurst @ USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database


The largest Northeastern U.S. conifer. Straight trunk with limbs growing horizonally out from the trunk. Whorled, incremental braching (see video below). Blue-green needles, usually 2-1/2 to 5 inches long. Only native pine in the Eastern U.S. that has 5 needles per bundle. Bark is smooth on younger pines becoming furrowed on older pines. Cones are slender, thornless and long-stalked (4 to 8 inches long).

Range of growth in the U.S.: See image to the right or go to the USDA Plant Database for Eastern White Pine to see more details as to what counties the Eastern White Pine has been found in.


Images from CalBerkeley Images of young Eastern White Pines (by web page author)

Identifying Eastern White Pine
(2-Minute Video by Forestry Professor)



Food & Medicinal Uses


Contraindications: Do not drink pine needle/twig/bark tea when pregnant or if you are allergic to pine.

Pine Needle Tea

Pine Twig infusion

Pine Bark decoction

Pine Nuts

Web Page Links

Online Videos

The Pine Family (Pinaceae) As
Wild Food with Frank Cook 		Food Sources of the Pine Family Brewing Eastern White Pine Tea


References

1
Native American Ethnobotany
by Daniel E. Moerman
Timber Press, c1998
ISBN: 0881924539
2
Medicinal and Other Uses of North American Plants: A Historical Survey with Special Reference to Eastern Indian Tribes
by Charlotte Erichsen-Brown
Dover Publications, c1989
ISBN: 048625951X