MOUNT RAINIER The Forests of Mount Rainier National Park

WHITE-BARK PINE (PINUS ALBICAULIS)

The white-bark pine (fig. 21) grows close to timber line in the mountains of the Pacific coast from British Columbia to southern California. In the Canadian Rockies it extends north to the fifty-third parallel. It is the most alpine of all the pines. Its lower limit on Mount Rainier is about 5,000 feet above sea level. In sheltered places where the soil is deep the trees are sometimes 30 to 40 feet high and 20 inches in diameter. The trunks are free from limbs for 8 or 10 feet. The outer bark, from which the tree derives its name, consists of thin, light-gray scales.

Fig. 21.—A whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis) in its characteristic mountain habitat, Mount Rainier National Park. Photograph by A. H. Denman.

As the white-bark pine advances up the mountain its habitat changes rapidly. The stem shortens and becomes gnarled and twisted. The tough, flexible branches reach the ground and spread over it to a great distance from the tree. On rocky summits and the bleak crests of wind-swept ridges the twisted trunk and branches are quire prostrate and the crown is a dense flattened mass of foliage.

The roots of the tree are deep, long, and tenacious. They spread wide and deep and cling so firmly to the rocks that the tree is rarely overthrown by the violent winds that sweep over the mountain.

The thick, purple cones require two years to mature. They ripen early in September and produce chocolate-brown seeds a little larger than grain of corn. They are much relished by the Klickitat Indians, who go to considerable pains to secure them. The wood is closed grained and resinous. It makes excellent fuel for the camp fires of sheep herders and mountain travelers.