Western white pine

The Western white pine has received the nickname “king of the pines”, the reason they give this pine that name is because of its diameter, height, and form. It was adopted as Idaho’s state tree in 1935. Some of the common names for this tree are mountain pine, white pine, Idaho white pine, or silver pine. 

Anatomy
The Western white pine is a very large tree. This tree is usually 30-50 m tall, they have even found a 70m western white pine. If you look at the needles on the tree you can see that at they are 5-13 cm long.The cones are long and skinny, 12-32 cm long and 3-4 cm broad. If you look at the cones scales they are flexible and can reach out to 5-8 cm. The Western White Pine can live up to 300-400 years of age. They usually live up to 500 years. Things that can make them age faster would be insects and diseases. Most of these pines are the same age, but a better way of seeing there age is looking at there root system to see if they have a lateral root system or a Tap roots. 

Identification

*Leaf- The pines leaves can grow to 2-4 inches long. They are blue green with some white lines. The stoma blooms three needles on the surface of the stomata.

*Flower- The cones on the pine are very small, yellow, and very clustered at the very ends of the branches. But when you look at the female cones they are much longer, they're greenish- pink, and they are found toward the front of the braches. The pine produces seeds/cones every year. This process begins when the tree is very young around the age of 10. The cone growth is mostly common the third and forth of each year in the growing season. In August to September you will find this is when the seeds are in their full growing stage. 

*Twig- The twigs that come out are short and grayish-brown. 

*Bark- The bar on the tree is thin and also grayish- greenish, but when the pine gets older it can grow up to 2 inches thick. Then it becomes a purple- grayish color and gets turned into squares all over the tree. If you look at the young pines you will see their bark is thin, smooth, and gray greenish. 

*Form- The pines are straight and very tall; they can reach up to 4 feet wide and 180 feet tall. There branches grow toward the top of the tree and also all over the tree. 

Reproduction
There are 3 main seasons in which the pine will start growing. July through August is very common with the strobilus buds. The oval stimulates strobilus come in clusters of 15-25 they pop up in the middle of the crown 10 cm by 4cm in length. June and July are the money seasons for pollination, the pollen dissemination will last around 8-9 days. The Western white pine is mostly female it will stay this way its whole life pretty much when its production age at 7 through 20. These ovulates grow on the tips of the branches, people will be able to examine these ovulates in mid –June this is when they're most out.

Seed Production – August and September are the main seasons for when western white pines become ripe. When the cones are ripe they will turn a yellowish color. At the age of 7 the western white pine is able to produce its cones, and it can keep this process up until its 70 years old. The cone beetles are the trees worst fear they can cause practical to almost complete failure in the cone production. There are also moths that can cause a loss in seed growth. The seeds can survive harsh conditions when off of the branches of the western white pine; they can still be usable even after a whole winter. Studies found that you can keep the seeds viable for 20 years off the branch if you store them at -18C (0F) to -15C (5F) 

Seedling Development-' For germination to occur the seed must go through 30-120 days of cold temperature. The seed coat controls the dormancy the most. The seeds will most likely germinate in the late spring, the germination in lower elevations germinate in late April. The trees in the higher elevation will not germination if you increase the sunlight on the cone scientist have found that the soil is controlling center in the beginning for germination. Seedlings off of the pine tree usually die because of insects and diseases. 

Vegetative Reproduction- The Western White when naturally reproducing it does not use sprouting or layering. You can just take the cuttings from the tree and plant them following the application of rooting hormones. 

Ecology
The Western White Pine will occur in mostly Idaho and Northern Rockies. If you search for a Western white pine you will most likely see the pine in lower elevations growing. In Vancouver you will find many white pines because of the drier parts.Western Mountain ranges thrive on white pines; they will grow on the mountain ranges from southern British Columbia and southwestern Alberta. Also Montanan and eastern Oregon. These types of species will grow in many different soils, but the best soils for these pines are deep, well-drained and medium texture drained soils. The pine grows from sea level to about 2,500 feet above sea level.

Production
The western white pine was brought into the production line in 1920. The largest recording was in 1937 when 563 million broad feet was produced. But in 1980 the cutting amount was shortened the production was 200 million feet annually. The leading state in producing white pine wood is Idaho. It also is the leader in plywood production. In the mid 1920’s there was put out a major Impact about introducing a pathogen, they have tried to make it to white blister. The method was shortly shut down in 1968 because it took to much effort to keep this processing to going. The biggest threats to the western white pine that could make them die are fire, insects, and diseases. The tree is somewhat fire resistant, but not fully resistant. There is a disease that is very common that will infect the western pine its called the “blister rust”. The disease will occur when the roots start to deteriorate and then this makes the tree unable to get water to the vital organs in the tree.