Pine family, Pinaceae
Origin: the north-west of the U.S.A., the south-east of Canada
Habitat in the original area: moister places – round watercourses, valley ravines, gentle mountain slopes
Habitus: A tree that usually grows to the height of about 40 metres (but the height of 70 metres is not exceptional) with a conical crown. The bark is smooth and greenish-grey when young, then furrowed and dark brown when old. Small blisters appear on it, which are filled with resin, that also covers the entire buds.
List: The shiny and fragrant needles grow on a flat twig (in two rows). They are not of the same length; the length can be up to 5 centimetres. On the front side they are deep green, on the back side they are grey-green with two white stripes.
Bloom, fruit: The cones grow near the top. The male ones are up to 8 centimetres long; the female ones are up to 10 centimetres long and yellow-green. They ripen from August to September, then they fall apart on the tree.
Interesting fact: Native Americans used the strongly aromatic resin to wipe the insides of boats and homes, because due to its high content of essential oils it has antiseptic and repellent effects.
