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| ## jack pine {#jack-pine .Title-Header}                               |
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| *Pinus banksiana* Lamb.                                               |
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| Plant Symbol =PIBA2                                                   |
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*Contributed by: USDA NRCS National Plant Data Center*

![](media/image2.wmf)

Herman, D.E. et al. 1996. *North Dakota tree handbook*. USDA NRCS ND
State Soil Conservation Committee; NDSU Extension and Western Area Power
Admin., Bismarck, ND

# Uses

*Ethnobotanic use*. Canadian Indians used jack pine wood as frames in
their canoes.

*Commercial uses:* Jack pine is important timber species in the Lake
States of the United States and Canada. These trees produce pulpwood,
lumber for construction, telephone poles, fence posts, mine timbers, and
railroad ties. Jack pine is used as Christmas trees and for
stabilization of watersheds.

*Wildlife uses:* Serves as habitat and breeding area for the endangered
Kirtland\'s warbler (*Dendroica kirtlandii*), federally endangered bird.
These small birds utilize jack pine stands ranging from 1.5 and 6 m (5
to 20 ft) tall larger than 32 ha (80 acres) as nesting grounds.
White-tailed deer (*Odocoileus virginianus*) browse saplings and young
trees and snowshoe hares (*Lepus americanus*) feed on young seedlings.
Porcupines (*Erethizon dorsatum*) feed on bark that often leads to
deformed trees. Red squirrels (*Tamiasciurus hudsonicus*), chipmunks
(*Eutamias* spp.), mice (*Peromyscus leucopus*), goldfinches (*Carduelis
tristis*), and robins (*Turdus migratorius*) consume seeds.

# Status

Please consult the PLANTS Web site and your State Department of Natural
Resources for this plant's current status (e.g. threatened or endangered
species, states noxious status, and wetland indicator values).

# 

# Description

*General**: ***Jack pine is a small to medium-sized, native, evergreen
tree averaging 17 - 20 m (55 - 65 ft) high. Crown small, irregularly
rounded or spreading and flattened irregular. Branches descending to
spreading-ascending, poorly self-pruning; twigs slender, orange-red to
red-brown, aging gray-brown, rough. Cones are retained for several
years, resulting in a coarse appearance. Trunk straight to crooked; bark
at first dark and scaly, later develops scaly ridges. Branchlets are
yellow to greenish-brown when young, then turning gray-brown with age;
very resinous buds. The leaves are evergreen, 2 - 3.75 cm (.75 - 1.5 in)
long, and two twisted, divergent needles per fascicle, yellow-green in
color all surfaces with fine stomatal lines, margins finely serrulate,
apex acute to short-subulate. Fascicle sheath is short 0.3-0.6 cm,
semipersistent. Seeds are compressed-obovoid, oblique; body 4-5 mm,
brown to near black; wing 10-12 mm. 2*n*=24

The minimum seed-bearing age of open-grown jack pine is 3 to 5 years
old. Some seed is produced every year and serotinous cones accumulate in
the crown. A mature stand of jack pine may have as many as 2 million
seeds per acre (5 million/ha) stored in unopened cones. Because of
abundant seed production, few mature trees are necessary to regenerate a
stand. The serotinous cones are sealed close with a resinous bond that
requires high temperatures to open and liberate the seeds. This heat is
usually provided by fire, but hot, dry weather (temperatures of at 49 to
60 degrees C) also opens some cones. Because temperatures required to
open cones typically occur in the warmest part of the summer, survival
of new germinant may be poor because of drought conditions or lack of
time to become established before winter.

The winged seeds are the smallest of the native North American pines and
are dispersed by gravity and wind. The effective dispersal range is
about 110 to 130 feet (34-40 m) or two tree heights.

Seeds usually germinate rapidly after release when the 10-day mean
maximum air temperature is 65 degrees Fahrenheit (18 deg C) or higher.
Jack pine seeds occasionally exhibit partial dormancy, which is probably
broken naturally by heat from fire. Seeds remain viable in closed cones
for years, but viability decreases over time

*Distribution*: Jack pine occurs in Canada from British Columbia to Nova
Scotia; and in the United States from Illinois eastward to New
Hampshire, and Maine**.** For current distribution, please consult the
Plant Profile page for this species on the PLANTS Web site.

*Habitat*: Widespread throughout Northwestern Ontario, jack pine is
usually found on sandy soils of the Spodosol and Entisol soil orders. It
also grows on loamy soils, on thin soils over the granites and
metamorphosed rocks of the Canadian Shield, over limestone, on peat, and
on soil over permafrost. Grows in mono-specific stands or in association
with black spruce; less common in mixed woods with trembling aspen and
other species.

# Adaptation

# **Jack pine is the best adapted** of all boreal conifers to fire. With medium thick bark, mature individuals have only moderate fire tolerance, but populations survive because of delayed seed release from serotinous cones, early reproductive maturity, fast growth in full sun, and preference for mineral soil seedbeds. Jack pine invades areas where mineral soil has been exposed by major disturbance such as fire. Jack pine is fire adapted and becomes a dominate species in areas that are exposed to frequently burned.

# 

# Establishment

Jack pine is regenerated by planting, direct seeding, scattering
cone-bearing slash on mechanically scarified ground, or using the seed
tree silviculture method combined with prescribed fire. Usually grows in
dry, acidic sandy soils with a lower pH limit of 4.0, but also loamy
soil, thin soil over bedrock, peat, and soil over permafrost. Does not
usually grow in moderately alkaline soil, but can grow in calcareous
soils up to pH 8.2 if normal mycorrhizal fungi are present.

Jack pine occurs on level to gently rolling sand plains of glacial
outwash, fluvial, or lacustrine origin, on eskers, sand dunes, rock
outcrops, bald rock ridges, and lakeshores. At elevations between 300 to
700 m (1,000 to 2300 feet).

Jack pine seeds germinate best on mineral soil or soil with less than
0.2 inch or organic matter. The organic material level can be reduced by
fire or mechanical raking and disking. The slash on seedbed left by
harvesting must be reduced because it will provide too much shade. Some
shade might be good for germination but young Jack pine seedlings
require full sunlight to become established.

# Pests and Potential Problems

The jack pine budworm (*Choristoneura pinus*) defoliates mature jack
pine. The jack pine budworm, native to North America, has a range that
coincides almost exactly with jack pine, its preferred host. Root
borers, root feeders, shoot and stem borers, leaf feeders, needle
miners, and sucking insects affect the survival and growth of seedlings.
Many other insects feed on jack pine cones. Young stands of jack pine
are susceptible to defoliation by the redheaded pine sawfly (*Neodiprion
lecontei*). Jack pine is susceptible to many fungi, diseases and rust.

# Cultivars, Improved, and Selected Materials (and area of origin)

These materials are readily available from commercial plant sources.
Contact your local Natural Resources Conservation Service (formerly Soil
Conservation Service) office for more information. Look in the phone
book under "United States Government." The Natural Resources
Conservation Service will be listed under the subheading "Department of
Agriculture."

# References

Argus, G.W. 1966. *Botanical investigations in northeastern
Saskatchewan: the subarctic Patterson-Hasbala Lakes Region*. Canadian
Field-Naturalist 80:119-143.

Benzie, J.W. 1977. *Manager's Handbook for Jack Pine in the North
Central States.* USDA For. Serv., Gen. Tech. Rep. NC-32. North Central
Forest Experiment Station, St. Paul, Minnesota 18 pp.

Braun, E.L. 1950. *Deciduous Forest of Eastern North America.* Hafner
Publishing, New York, New York. 596 pp.

Cayford, J.H. and A. Bickerstaff. 1968. *Man-made Forests in Canada.
Forestry Branch Publication 1240.* Canadian Department Fisheries and
Forestry, Ottawa, ON. 68 pp.

Cayford, J.H., Z. Chrosciewicz, and H.P. Sims. 1967. *A Review of
Silvicultural Research in Jack Pine. Forestry Branch* Publication 1173.
Canadian Department Forestry and Rural Development, Canadian Forestry
Service, Ottawa, Ontario. 209 pp.

Chrosciewicz, Z.. 1963. *The Effects of Site on Jack Pine Growth in
Northern Ontario. Canadian* Department Forestry, Research Branch
Publication 1015. Ottawa, Ontario. 28 pp.

Critchfield, W.B.,and E.L. Little, Jr. 1966. *Geographic Distributions
of the Pines of the World.* U.S.D.A. For. Serv. Misc. Public. 991,
Washington, D.C. 97 pp.

Eyre, F.H., ed. 1980. *Forest Cover Types of the United States and
Canada*. Society of American Foresters, Washington, D.C. 148 pp.

Harlow, W.M., E.S. Harrar, J.W. Hardin and F.M. White 1996. *Textbook of
Dendrology*, 8^th^ ed., McGraw Hill Book., New York; New York 534 pp.

Little, E.L. Jr. 1971. *Atlas of United States Trees*. Vol. 1. Conifers
and important hardwoods. U.S.D.A. For. Serv. Misc. Public. 1146,
Washington, D.C.

Little, E.L. Jr. 1979. *Checklist of United States Trees* (native and
naturalized). U.S.D.A. For. Serv. Misc. Public. 541, Washington, D.C.
375 pp.

Little, E.L. Jr., and W.B. Critchfield. 19*69.* Subdivisions of the
Genus *Pinus* (Pines). U.S.D.A. For. Serv. Misc. Public. 1144,
Washington, D.C.

Mayfield, HF. 1953. *A census of the Kirtland's warbler.* Auk 70:17-20.

Righter, F.I., and P. Stockwell. 1949. *The Fertile Species Hybrid
(Pinus murraybanksiana)*. Madrono 10:65-69.

Rudolf, P.O. 1965. Jack pine (*Pinus banksiana* Lamb.). *In Silvics of
Forest Trees of the United States*. P. 338-354. H.A. Fowells, comp.
U.S.D.A., Ag. Hndbk. 271. Washington, D.C.

Rudolph, T.D. and P.R. Laidly. 1990. *Pinus banksiana* (Lamb.), Jack
Pine, pp. 280-293. *In* R.M. Burns and B.H. Honkala (eds.), Silvics of
North America, Vol. 1, Conifers, U.S.D.A. For. Serv. Agric. Handbk. 654,
Washington, D.C.

Rudolf, T.D. and C.W. Yeatman. 1982. *Genetics of Jack Pine,* U.S.D.A.
Forest Service, Research Paper WO-38. Washington, D.C. 60 pp.

Scotter, F.W. 1974. *Distribution of Pine (Pinus spp.) in the South
Nahanni and Flat Rivers Region, Northwest Territories.* Canadian Journal
of Forest Research 4:555-557.

# Prepared By: 

##### *Lincoln M. Moore*

USDA NRCS National Plant Data Center, Baton Rouge, Louisiana

*Jeffrey D. Walker Wilson*,

Earth Team Volunteer, USDA NRCS National Plant Data Center, Baton Rouge,
Louisiana

# 

# Species Coordinator: 

*Lincoln M. Moore*

USDA NRCS National Plant Data Center, Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Edited: 27june06lmm; 060803 jsp

For more information about this and other plants, please contact your
local NRCS field office or Conservation District, and visit the PLANTS
Web site\<[http://plants.usda.gov](http://plants.usda.gov/)\> or the
Plant Materials Program Web site
\<[http://Plant-Materials.nrcs.usda.gov](http://Plant-Materials.nrcs.usda.gov/)\>

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*To file a complaint of discrimination write USDA, Director, Office of
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