WHITE-BARKED PINE
(Pinus albicaulis)
This is a common and very picturesque timberline tree in Mount
Rainier National Park. While its altitudinal limits lie between the 5400
and 7300 foot levels it is most conspicuous along the upper fringe of
tree growth. In the Yakima Park area, however, this species replaces the
mountain hemlock as the chief associate of the alpine fir in the
sub-alpine zone.
Because of the rigorous climatic and soil conditions characteristic
of the region where this tree grows, the white-barked pine is usually
stunted and twisted. In some of the more exposed situations, where it is
battered by high winds, it is little more than a sprawling shrub while
in more protected sites it may occasionally attain a height of over 50
feet. It is generally from 15-50 feet tall and from 6-24 inches
in diameter with a bushy, irregular crown of long, tough,
flexible branches. The flexible character of the branches enables this
tree to withstand the strongest gales. The bark is smooth and
light grey in color but occasionally it is broken up into thin brownish
to grey scales at the base of the larger trunks. The foliage is a
dark yellow-green in color with the needles borne five in a cluster as
in the case of the western white pine. However, these two species will
never be confused for they not only occur at different altitudinal
levels but are radically unlike in appearance as well. The individual
needles are thick and from 1-3 inches long. The cones, which mature at
the end of the second season, are nearly circular in outline, 2-1/2 - 3
inches long, purple-brown in color and with very thick scales. Because
of the conditions under which this tree exists it grows very slowly but
no studies of its age and longevity in Mt. Rainier National Park have
been made. However, Sudworth states that trees about 19 inches in
diameter are usually from 250 to 350 years old.
The white-barked pine occurs in British Columbia and Alberta on the
north, south to Montana, Idaho, northwestern: Wyoming, Washington,
Oregon, and southern California. With in this range, however, it
is confined to the highest summits - from 5000 to 7000 feet in the north
and from 7000 to 11,000 feet in the southern extremities of the
area.
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Descriptions continued...
