Pinus flexilis

What to Eat

Edible parts: Seeds, Nuts

The oil-rich seeds can be eaten raw or cooked and have a delicious flavour with a hint of resin. They measure up to 11mm x 9mm and have a thick shell. The seeds can also be ground into a powder and used to thicken soups or added to cereals when making bread and biscuits. The inner bark is edible and is typically dried, ground into a powder, and used as a soup thickener or mixed into bread-making cereals. 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 and the rockies it grows from 1000 m altitude to the tree line. It normally grows on dry, rocky, exposed slopes. It will grow on a variety of soils. It suits high altitude snow zones. Hobart Botanical Gardens. It suits hardiness zones 4-7. Arboretum Tasmania.

Australia, Canada, Mexico, North America, Tasmania, USA,

How to Identify

A soft pine. It can be 12 m high and the trunk 60 cm across. The tree can spread 6 m wide. The bark is smooth and pale grey when young. It becomes rough, dark brown and with wide scaly plates with age. The leaves are in clusters of 5. The needles remain on the tree for 5-6 years. The cones are narrowly oval and are 8-20 cm long. They have very short stalks and are at right angles to the stem. There are 40-70 scales which are slightly thickened at the tip. They are spoon shaped without prickles. They open on the tree at maturity to release the seeds. The cones are shed during winter.

How to Grow

Thrives in a light well-drained sandy or gravelly loam. Dislikes poorly drained moorland soils. Established plants tolerate drought. A fairly wind-resistant species, the plants often colonise exposed mountain slopes in the wild, their deep taproot anchoring them firmly. A very cold-tolerant plant when fully dormant. A long-lived but slow-growing tree in the wild. Growth in Britain can be fairly fast, over 30cm a year has been recorded. It is slow to get started but then grows away quite well. It only makes a small tree in cultivation. Seed production in the wild consists of a cycle of one good year followed by several years of low crops. Leaf secretions inhibit the germination of seeds, thereby inhibiting the growth of other plants below the tree. The branches are very flexible. The cones are 7 - 25cm long, they open and shed their seed whilst still attached to 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 allied to P. albicaulis, 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. Stored seed benefits from a short stratification of 6 weeks at 4°c to improve germination. Seedlings should be planted into their permanent positions as soon as possible and protected for the first winter or two. Because the root system is very sparse, early transplanting is essential for good establishment. Plant trees when small, between 30 and 90cm — ideally at around 5–10cm tall. A thorough weed-excluding mulch greatly aids establishment. Larger transplants check badly and show little growth for several years, with poor root development and wind resistance as a result. Cuttings can be taken, but only from trees less than 10 years old. Use single leaf fascicles with the base of the short shoot. Disbudding the shoots several weeks before taking cuttings can help, though cuttings are generally slow to establish.

Medicinal Uses

Turpentine drawn from the resin of pine trees 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 or steam bath for rheumatic conditions. It benefits the respiratory system and is useful against mucous membrane diseases, coughs, colds, influenza, and TB. Externally, it treats skin complaints, wounds, sores, burns, and boils, applied via liniment plasters, poultices, herbal steam baths, and inhalers.

Other Uses

A tan or green dye can be obtained from the needles. The needles release a substance called terpene when washed by rain, which inhibits germination of some plants including wheat. The tree is fairly wind resistant and suitable for shelterbelt planting. Oleo-resins occur in the tissues of all pines, obtained either 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 including as a solvent for waxes, in varnish, and medicinally. The remaining rosin is used by violinists on their bows and in sealing wax and varnish. Pitch derived from the resin serves as a waterproofing agent and wood preservative. The wood is light, soft, and close-grained; it is occasionally milled into lumber and used for general carpentry.

Pinus flexilis, the limber pine, is a species of pine tree in the family Pinaceae that occurs in the mountains of the Western United States, Mexico, and Canada. It is also called Rocky Mountain white pine. A limber pine in Eagle Cap Wilderness, Oregon, has been documented as over 2,000 years old, and another one was confirmed at 1,140 years old. Another candidate for the oldest limber pine was identified in 2006 near the Alta Ski Area in Utah; called "Twister", the tree was confirmed to be at least 1,700 years old and thought to be even older.

Production

It is slow growing and long lived. It can live for several hundred years. There are good seed crops every 2-4 years.

Notes

There are over 100 species of Pinus.

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