Pinus albicaulis

What to Eat

Edible parts: Inner bark, Seeds, Nut

The seeds can be eaten raw or cooked. Large and sweet-flavoured, they are up to 9 x 7mm with a thick shell and a pleasant, slightly resinous taste. They can be ground into a powder and used as a flavouring in soups, or added to cereal flours when making bread, biscuits, and cakes. Eating the raw seeds in large quantities can cause constipation. The inner bark can be used as well — typically dried, ground into a powder, and used as a thickener in soups or mixed into cereal flours for baking. A vanillin flavouring is also obtained as a by-product of resins released from the pulpwood.

Known Hazards

Where to Find It

It is a temperate plant. In Canada it grows from 1000 m altitude to the tree line. It grows on rocky soils and cliff faces. It requires a moist climate. It can tolerate some shade. It suits hardiness zones 4-8.

Australia, Britain, Canada, Central America, Europe, Mexico, North America, USA,

How to Identify

A soft pine. It is small and upright and with many stems. It can be low lying at high altitudes. It can form a single stemmed tree 20 m high and with a trunk 50 cm across under good growing conditions. The needles are in bundles of 5 and are 4-9 cm long. They are stout and stiff. They are slightly curved and dark yellowish-green. They are clustered towards the edges of the twigs and the edges are smooth. The needles remain on the tree for 4-8 years. The cones are round and 5-8 cm long. They occur at right angles to the branch. There are 30-50 scales and they are thick, tough and pointed. They do not have prickles. The cones only open slightly at maturity. Cones fall off. The seeds are large and 10 mm long. They are wingless. They have a heavy seed coat.

How to Grow

Thrives in a light well-drained sandy or gravelly loam in a sunny position. Dislikes poorly drained moorland soils. Established plants tolerate drought. Plants often colonise exposed mountain slopes in the wild, their root system anchoring them firmly. A long-lived but slow-growing tree in the wild. It grows well in Britain, coning regularly at Kew, but not doing so well in the milder parts of the country. It is best suited for growing in northern areas at higher elevations. Trees do not produce large numbers of cones but small numbers are formed annually. The cones are up to 8cm long, they ripen in late summer and do not open on the tree but fall intact to the ground. This species is the only N. American pine with this habit and it is thus considered to be a primitive species. The seed is extracted by breaking up the soft scales of the cone. Birds and mammals often open the cones and eat the seeds before they mature. Leaf secretions inhibit the germination of seeds, thereby inhibiting the growth of other plants below the tree. Plants are strongly outbreeding, self-fertilized seed usually grows poorly. They hybridize freely with other members of this genus. This species is closely related to P. flexilis, differing mainly in the cones. Plants in this genus are notably susceptible to honey fungus. An evergreen.

Propagation: Sow seed in individual pots in a cold frame as soon as it is ripe, or in late winter if not possible. A short stratification of 6 weeks at 4°c can improve germination of stored seed. Plant seedlings into permanent positions as soon as possible and protect them for the first winter or two. Plants have a very sparse root system and establish best when moved young — ideally between 30 and 90cm tall, though we plant them out at around 5–10cm tall. A thorough weed-excluding mulch helps them establish well. Larger transplants check badly and may put on little growth for several years, which also impairs root development and wind resistance. Cuttings work only when taken from trees less than 10 years old. Use single leaf fascicles with the base of the short shoot; disbudding the shoots a few weeks before taking cuttings can help. Cuttings are normally slow to establish.

Medicinal Uses

Turpentine from pine resin is antiseptic, diuretic, rubefacient, and vermifuge. Taken internally it is a valuable treatment for kidney and bladder complaints, and is used both internally and as a rub and steam bath for rheumatic conditions. It benefits the respiratory system and is useful for diseases of the mucous membranes and complaints such as coughs, colds, influenza, and TB. Externally it treats skin complaints, wounds, sores, burns, and boils, applied as liniment plasters, poultices, herbal steam baths, and inhalers.

Other Uses

A tan or green dye is obtained from the needles. The needles contain terpene, which is released when rain washes over them and inhibits germination of some plants, including wheat. Oleo-resins are present in all pine tissues but are not always present in quantities that make extraction economically worthwhile. Resins are obtained by tapping the trunk or by destructive distillation of the wood; trees from warmer regions generally yield more. Turpentine makes up an average of 20% of the oleo-resin and is separated by distillation, with uses as a solvent for waxes, in varnish-making, and medicinally. Rosin, the residue after turpentine is removed, is used by violinists and in sealing wax and varnish. Pitch from the resin is used for waterproofing and as a wood preservative. The wood is soft, light, coarse-grained, and brittle, and is used occasionally for fuel.

Pinus albicaulis, known by the common names whitebark pine, white bark pine, white pine, pitch pine, scrub pine, and creeping pine, is a conifer tree native to the mountains of the western United States and Canada, specifically subalpine areas of the Sierra Nevada, Cascade Range, Pacific Coast Ranges, Rocky Mountains, and Ruby Mountains. It shares the common name "creeping pine" with several other plants. The whitebark pine is typically the highest-elevation pine tree found in these mountain ranges and often marks the tree line. Thus, it is often found as krummholz, trees growing close to the ground that have been dwarfed by exposure. In more favorable conditions, the trees may grow to 29 meters (95 ft) in height.

Production

It is slow growing and long lived. Trees can live to 500 years old. The cones are harvested and dried slightly before pounding to remove the seeds.

Notes

There are 100-110 species of Pinus. About 80 Pinus species have edible nuts. (C Solomon)

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