Whitebark Pine | Tree Seed Grow Kit | The Jonsteen Company

Slow-growing and long-lived (the oldest known specimen in Idaho's Sawtooth Mountains is estimated to be nearly 1,300 years old), Whitebark Pine is a 5-needle pine that takes on very different growth forms based on environmental factors. At the highest elevations, Whitebarks are hammered by the elements into a krummholz form: low-growing, shrublike, and windswept - dwarfed by years of exposure and crushing loads of snow and ice that persist nine months of the year. This low-cast alpine form explains Whitebark's other names: "Scrub Pine" and "Creeping Pine". At lower elevations, where conditions are not as extreme, Whitebark Pines are larger and feature upswept branches with tips crowded with lush foliage. In this setting, Whitebark Pines can grow to 60 feet tall with shining white trunks 2 to 3 feet across. The largest known Whitebark Pine is 90 feet tall.

The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service has found that the Whitebark Pine is in imminent danger of extinction due to a trend of warmer winters that have allowed native mountain pine beetle populations to grow out of control and wreak havoc throughout higher elevations Whitebark Country. Now is a great time to grow a Whitebark Pine!