They can live to be more than 200 years old.
White pine grows best in partial shade on medium to fine soils that have a good moisture supply.
White pines have straight trunks with a pyramid-shaped crown. Older trees often are flat on top. The soft, flexible needles, which occur in bundles of five, are blue-green on top and whitish beneath. White pine blister rust, white pine weevil, and browsing deer kill or retard the growth of many white pines. Loggers reached the pine lands of east-central Minnesota in the late 1830s.