Pinus banksiana Lamb.

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Credits

Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles

Recommended citation
'Pinus banksiana' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/pinus/pinus-banksiana/). Accessed 2024-03-18.

Genus

Common Names

  • Jack Pine

Synonyms

  • P. hudsonica Poir.
  • P. divaricata (Ait.) Dum.-Cours.
  • P. sylvestris var. divaricata Ait.

Glossary

apex
(pl. apices) Tip. apical At the apex.
convex
Having a rounded surface.

References

There are no active references in this article.

Credits

Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles

Recommended citation
'Pinus banksiana' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/pinus/pinus-banksiana/). Accessed 2024-03-18.

A plant varying in height from a scrubby bush to a tree 20 to 45 ft high in this country, but said sometimes to become 70 to 90 ft high in N. America; young shoots without down; terminal buds egg-shaped, 13 in. long, encased in resin. Leaves in pairs, persisting two to four years, 1 to 134 in. long, flat on one side, convex on the other, dark green, much curved; leaf-sheaths about 16 in. long. Cones pointing forward, slender, conical, but very much curved at the tapered point; about 112 in. long, 34 in. wide at the base before opening; yellow when ripe.

Native of Canada and the N.E. United States. It is the most northerly of pines, and is spread over a vast region, usually in poor soil; introduced early in the 18th century. It appears to be very well adapted for poor sandy soil, and has been planted in great numbers in Germany on that account. It has not much to recommend it for gardens. Among pines with short leaves in pairs and with resinous buds, this is to be distinguished by its slenderly tapered cones, curiously curved like a bent little finger at the apex.

P. banksiana grows in a few British collections, where the oldest trees are up to 70 ft in height and 3 to 414 ft in girth (514 ft at Blairquhan, Ayrs.).

From the Supplement (Vol. V)

specimens: Wakehurst Place, Sussex, 70 × 4 ft (1982); Nymans, Sussex, 72 × 4 ft (1985); Blackmoor, Hants, 75 × 412 ft (1982); Blairquhan, Ayrs., pl. 1916, 59 × 6 ft (1984); Fairburn House, E. Ross, 82 × 334 ft (1982).