Male pollen cone. Cones eaten raw or pollen used as a flour substitute or extender. Worldwide there are between 70 and 100 species of pines, with a dozen or so found in the west, making them quite available. To differentiate pines from other conifers, look at the leaves. This sheath is actually a modified leaf and only occurs in pines.
Pines are a storehouse of basic materials.
The inner bark or cambium layer between the bark and wood can be scraped or peeled off. Though tedious to collect, it can be eaten raw or cooked, or ground into meal and used as a flour substitute. Early explorers frequently recorded large areas of trees stripped of their bark by Native Americans. The sap or pitch has many uses. Sap is usually collected in quantity from cuts, burns, and broken branches.