61. Shore Pine
Pinaceae
Pinus contorta
Lushootseed Name: čaxʷčəxʷayʔ (pronounced ch-ach-ch-wye)
Also called the Lodgepole Pine or Tamarack Pine
Specimen Size: 52.6ft tall, 13.5in in diameter.
Location: South of Meany Hall in between the loading dock and the entrance to the underground parking lots beneath red square.
Historical Background: The Nisga’a of B.C. created rope using the roots. The Haida used the bark to create splints. The tree’s pitch is also quite versatile. It is used to waterproof canoes by the Sechelt people. Arrowheads were fastened onto shafts also using the pitch by the Saanich tribe. The Lower Stl’atl’imx create glue and protective coats for fishing nets. For the Coast Salish, Nuu-chah-nulth, Kwakwaka'wakw, Nuxalk, Haida, Tsimshian, and Tlingit, the pitch and bark provides medicinal properties. It could be made into a paste for cuts or tea for tuberculosis. For coastal communities, it is a common Christmas tree variety.
Native
Native Range: Rocky Mountains, Sierra Nevada, Cascades, and Pacific Northwest coast regions
Identifying Features: Equipped with needles in fascicles of two, the Shore Pine is unlikely to be mistaken for any other Pine in native environments in Washington where it is the only native two needled pine. There are however others which do bear this feature which are non-native, including the Japanese red pine already seen on this tour. Needles are short (less than an inch to 3 inches in length), and are a deep green in color and often curved and twisted. The tree itself may grow crooked, stunted, and irregular if conditions are harsh (such as they are along the Pacific coast), or ramrod straight and tall in more favorable conditions of the Cascade mountains east side. Bark is grey to a light orange color and has been described as looking like corn flakes. Cones are small, egg shaped, and prolific, armed, and often slightly curved.
Identifying Features In Depth:
Form: On the coast often short up to 65” (20m), generally with a crooked trunk and irregular branching, with a pillowy crown. In more favorable condition it can grow up to 100ft (30m), straight and symmetrical with a pyramidal crown.
Leaves: Dark evergreen needles in fascicles of 2, generally curved and twisted and between 1-3’ in length. Needles appear in bunches at the end of branches and out the side of branches near the tip.
Bark: Bark is thinner than that of other pines on this tour, scaly or furrowed into cornflake like plates, dark brown to dark grey to light grey, to almost orange depending on the location.
Reproductive Bodies: Pollen cones grow in long clusters at the branch tip in spring and are a reddish green. The seed cones are egg shaped and 1-2’ (3-5cm) in length, with gray woody scales armed at the tip.
Pinus contorta native range map in western north America, compiled by the USGS Atlas of United States Trees.
Below is the description found for this species on the original Brockman Memorial Tree Tour:
Historic Tree Tour Information: South of Meany Hall are bushy Shore Pines. Fairly compact and shrub-like, shore pine bears 1 to 3 inch (2.5 to 7.6 centimeter) needles in bundles of two and small prickly cones. Native in Seattle, this species is planted where "cast iron" hardiness is needed: toleration of dry, exposed sites and wretched soil. Its mountain kindred the Lodgepole pine (P. contorta var. latifolia) is slender and thin-barked with many similarities in needles and cones. Given good conditions Lodgepole pine grows up to 125 feet (40 meters) tall, but Shore pine often only reaches 40 feet (12 meters).
The cones of Shore pine require high heat to open and release the seeds, and because of this the tree depends on fires to regenerate itself. Infrequent, high-severity fire events often replace an entire stand of Shore pine and open up the cones to allow a new generation to become established. Because it is rich in pitch, the wood from this species will burn well even when green. The roots are strong and can be braided to make rope.
