Pinus banksiana
Common name:
Jack Pine
Scrub Pine
Banksian Pine
Hudson Bay Pine
Pronunciation:
PI-nus bank-se-A-na
Family:
Pinaceae
Genus:
Type:
Conifer
Native to (or naturalized in) Oregon:
No
- Conifer, evergreen tree, 35-50 ft (11-15 m) tall, open crown, branches slender and spreading. Bark reddish-brown to gray when young, becoming brown, flaky, and furrowed into thick plates. Needles in clusters of 2, 2-4 cm long, rigid, slightly twisted, spreading, sharp pointed, light yellowish-green to dark green, bundle sheath persistent. Seed cones often conic-ovoid, although variable in shape, 3-7 cm long, asymmetrical, often curved inward, usually pointed forward, frequently in clusters of 2-3; usually remaining closed and persist on the tree for 10-20 years. Fire releases seeds in persistent cones.
- Sun. Grows in dry, sandy, acid soils, adapts to soils too poor for many other plants.
- Hardy to USDA Zone 2 Native range from the Arctic Circle south to New York and Minnesota. The most northerly North American pine species and the most widely distributed pine in Canada. It is the territorial tree of Canada's North West Territories.
- banksiana: after Joseph Banks (1743-1820), director of Kew Gardens, England and a botanical collector; he served as naturalist on the Endeavour expedition of Captain James Cook. The author of the botanical name of Jack Pine (Pinus banksiana) was Aylmer B. Lambert (1761-1842), a well-regarded English botanist who was advised in his work by Joseph Banks.