Jack pine

A young Pinus banksiana

The Jack Pine (Pinus banksiana ) is a US-based North American pine. Its natural range extends east of the Rocky Mountains of the Northwest Territories up to Nova Scotia and from Minnesota to Maine. Its southern limit of distribution is the northwestern Indiana. In the far west of its range, there is a hybridization with the closely related lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta ).

The Jack Pine is a medium sized tree 9-22 m in height, but some copies are only bush -like. They usually grow not just straight, but forms an irregular crown at the age. On sandy soils or rock it often forms pure stands. In its dissemination strategy it is adapted to forest fires: Your cones remain closed for years and the scales spread out only after heat exposure to the opening ( serotine spread strategy). Thus, the seed falls after a fire on the bare ground when the Altbaum can not survive or the population has been reduced.

The 2-4 cm long leaves are zweinadelig, twisted, and delicate yellowish - green. The cones are provided 3 to 5 cm in size and with spiny scales, which spines are lost, to maturity and the pins are then smooth. For pines uncommon, the pins are from in the direction of growth of the branch or are twisted around them. They are used to distinguish them from the coastal pines easily.

Stocks of jack pine are breeding habitat for the endangered Michiganwaldsängers in the very limited area of its occurrence the Lower Peninsula of Michigan. Aging stocks often thin and fallen needles accelerate soil acidification. In the shrub layer are therefore often associated with blueberries.