View source for Biology:Jack pine

{{Short description|Species of tree}}
{{Speciesbox
| image = Pinus banksiana.jpg
| image_caption = Young jack pine
| status = LC
| status_system = IUCN3.1
|status_ref=<ref name="iucn status 12 November 2021">{{cite iucn |author=Farjon, A. |date=2013 |title=''Pinus banksiana'' |volume=2013 |page=e.T42346A2974230 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2013-1.RLTS.T42346A2974230.en |access-date=12 November 2021}}</ref>
| display_parents = 3
| genus = Pinus
| parent = Pinus subsect. Contortae
| species = banksiana
| authority = Lamb.
| range_map = Pinus banksiana range map.png
| range_map_caption = Native range
| synonyms = {{Species list
  |Pinus divaricata|(Aiton) Dum.Cours.
  |Pinus divaricata|(Aiton) Sudw. nom. illeg.
  |Pinus hudsonica|Poir.
  |Pinus rupestris|Michx.f.
  |Pinus sylvestris ''var.'' divaricata|Aiton
  }}
| synonyms_ref       = <ref>{{ThePlantList | id = kew-2563220 | taxon = Pinus banksiana | authority = Lamb.}}</ref><ref>{{WCSP|379838|Pinus divaricata}}</ref><ref>{{IPNI | id = 1116321-2 | taxon = Pinus divaricata}}</ref>
}}

'''Jack pine''' (''Pinus banksiana''), also known as '''grey pine'''<ref name="NBHoA">{{cite book |author=New Brunswick House of Assembly |url=https://archive.org/details/reportsrelating00brungoog |title=Reports Relating to the Project of Constructing a Railway and a Line of Electro-magnetic Telegraph Through the Province of New Brunswick from Halifax to Quebec |publisher=J. Simpson |year=1847}}</ref> or '''scrub pine,'''<ref name="NBHoA" /><ref name="Silvics">{{Silvics|volume=1|genus=Pinus|species=banksiana|last=Burns|first=R.M.}}</ref> is a [[Earth:North America|North America]]n [[Biology:Pine|pine]].

== Distribution and habitat ==
Its native range in {{wipe|Canada}} is east of the Rocky Mountains from the Mackenzie River in the [[Earth:Northwest Territories|Northwest Territories]] to Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia, and the north-central and northeast of the {{wipe|United States}} from Minnesota to Maine, with the southernmost part of the range just into northwest {{wipe|Indiana}} and northwest Pennsylvania.

== Taxonomy ==
In the far west of its range, ''Pinus banksiana'' hybridizes readily with the closely related [[Biology:Lodgepole pine|lodgepole pine]] (''Pinus contorta''). The species epithet ''banksiana'' is after the English botanist Sir Joseph Banks.<ref name=anatomy>{{cite web |url=http://www.fpl.fs.fed.us/documnts/TechSheets/SoftwoodNA/pdf_files/pinusbankmet.pdf |title=Pinus banksiana Lamb. |publisher=Center for Wood Anatomy Research, Forest Products Library, United States Forest Service |access-date=2010-12-27 |archive-date=2012-03-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120308131047/http://www.fpl.fs.fed.us/documnts/TechSheets/SoftwoodNA/pdf_files/pinusbankmet.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>

== Description ==
''Pinus banksiana'' ranges from {{convert|9|-|22|m|abbr=on}} in height. Some jack pines are shrub-sized, due to poor growing conditions. They do not usually grow perfectly straight, resulting in an irregular shape similar to pitch pine (''Pinus rigida''). This pine often forms pure stands on sandy or rocky soil. It is fire-adapted to stand-replacing fires, with the cones remaining closed for many years, until a forest fire kills the mature trees and opens the cones, reseeding the burnt ground.

Its leaves are needle-shaped, evergreen, in fascicles of two, needle-like, straight or slightly twisted, stiff, sharp-pointed, light yellowish-green, spread apart; edges toothed and {{convert|2|-|4|cm|in|frac=4|abbr=on}} long. The bundle-sheath is persistent. The buds are blunt pointed, up to 15&nbsp;mm long, reddish-brown, and resinous. On vigorous shoots, there is more than one cyclic component. The bark is thin, reddish-brown to gray in color in juvenile stages. As the tree matures it becomes dark brown and flaky. The wood is moderately hard and heavy, weak, light brown colour. The seed cones vary in shape, being rectangular to oval, cone shaped, straight or curved inward.<ref name="Moore2008">{{cite book |author1=Moore, Gerry |author2=Kershner, Bruce |author3=Craig Tufts |author4=Daniel Mathews |author5=Gil Nelson |author5-link=Gil Nelson |author6=Spellenberg, Richard |author7=Thieret, John W. |author8=Terry Purinton |author9=Block, Andrew |title=National Wildlife Federation Field Guide to Trees of North America |publisher=Sterling |location=New York |year=2008 |page=68 |isbn=978-1-4027-3875-3}}</ref> The [[Conifer cone|cones]] are {{convert|3|-|5|cm|frac=4|abbr=on}} long, the scales with a small, fragile prickle that usually wears off before maturity, leaving the cones smooth.

Unusually for a pine, the cones normally point forward along the branch, sometimes curling around it. That is an easy way to tell it apart from the similar lodgepole pine in more western areas of North America. The cones on mature trees are serotinous. They open when exposed to intense heat, greater than or equal to {{convert|50|C|F}}.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Cameron |first=H. |date=1953 |title=Melting Point of the Bonding Material in Lodgepole Pine and Jack Pine Cones |journal=Silviculture Leaflet |issue=86}}</ref> The typical case is in a fire, however cones on the lower branches can open when temperatures reach {{convert|27|C|F}} due to the heat being reflected off the ground.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Wyse |first1=Sarah V |last2=Brown |first2=Jerusha E |last3=Hulme |first3=Philip E |date=2019-11-01 |editor-last=Zenni |editor-first=Rafael D |title=Seed release by a serotinous pine in the absence of fire: implications for invasion into temperate regions |journal=AoB Plants |language=en |volume=11 |issue=6 |pages=plz077 |doi=10.1093/aobpla/plz077 |issn=2041-2851 |pmc=6900966 |pmid=31844510}}</ref>

== Ecology ==
[[Biology:Kirtland's warbler|Kirtland's warbler]] (''Setophaga kirtlandii''), a formerly [[Biology:Endangered species|endangered]] [[Biology:Bird|bird]], depends on pure stands of young jack pine in a very limited area in the north of the Lower and Upper Peninsulas of Michigan for breeding. Most known nesting areas are limited to Crawford, Oscoda, and Ogemaw counties.<ref>{{Cite web|title=USFWS: Managing the forest for the Kirtland's warbler|url=https://www.fws.gov/midwest/endangered/birds/kirtland/kiwamgmt.html|access-date=2021-10-05|website=www.fws.gov}}</ref> Mature jack pine forests are usually open and blueberries are often abundant in the [[Biology:Understory|understory]].

Young jack pines are an alternate host for sweet fern blister rust (''Cronartium comptoniae''). Infected [[Biology:Comptonia (plant)|sweet ferns]] (''Comptonia peregrina'') release powdery orange spores in the summer and nearby trees become infected in the fall. Diseased trees show vertical orange cankers on the trunk and galls on the lower branches. The disease does not tend to affect older trees.<ref name="eclectic">Blouin, Glen. ''An Eclectic Guide to Trees: east of the rockies''. 2001. Boston Mills Press, Erin, Ontario. pp 152-159.</ref>

Jack pines are also susceptible to [[Biology:Scleroderris canker|scleroderris canker]] (''Gremmeniella abietina''). This disease manifests by yellowing at the base of the needles. Prolonged exposure may lead to eventual death of the tree.<ref name="eclectic" />

Insects that attack jack pine stands include the white pine weevil (''Pissodes strobi''), jack pine sawfly, and jack pine budworm (''Choristoneura pinus'').<ref name="eclectic" />

Fossil evidence shows the jack pine survived the glacial period in the Appalachian and Ozark Mountains.<ref>Trees of Canada; Author John Laird Farrar</ref>

== Commercial uses ==
Like other species of pine, ''Pinus banksiana'' has use as timber, although its wood tends to be knotty and not highly resistant to decay. Products include pulpwood, fuel, decking, and [[Engineering:Utility pole|utility pole]]s.<ref name=anatomy />

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:Pinus banksiana forest.jpg|''P. banksiana'' forest with ''[[Biology:Vaccinium|Vaccinium]]'' groundcover in Neil's Harbour, Nova Scotia.
File:Jackpine.jpg|Foliage
File:Pinus banksiana closed cones.jpg|Closed, mature cones
File:Cones2.jpg|Pollen cones
File:Pinus banksiana bark.jpg|Bark
File:The Jack Pine, by Tom Thomson.jpg|''The Jack Pine'' (1917) by [[Biography:Tom Thomson|Tom Thomson]], painted in Algonquin Park, Ontario.
</gallery>

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==

{{Taxonbar|from=Q806838}}

[[Category:Pinus]]
[[Category:Pinus taxa by common names]]

{{Sourceattribution|Jack pine}}