the Pinecone Tree

Further to the previous post, I reproduce the two pages of Romeyn Beck Hough's Handbook of the Trees of the Northern States and Canada (MacMillan, 1947) devoted to Pinus strobus L., the  (Eastern or Northern) White  Pine, aka the Weymouth or Soft Pine.

I'm not sure what Linnaeus had in mind when he designated this tree Pinus (pine) strobus (a pine or a pine-cone) back in 1753 — as if it were the only pine tree with pine-cones growing on it. But then this is the man who awarded Bearberry the binomial "Arctostaphylos uva-ursi" — name means "bear grapes", first in Greek, then in Latin. I'm reminded of Nina Hagen's New York, New York...

New York City is a place so nice
Everybody says it so they had to name it twice
New York, New York....

But yes, the pine tree with the pine cones.

Click on the pix to avoid eyestrain. And when you do, check out the map on the bottom of the second page for all the wacky provinces they never taught us about in high school.

Also on the second page, notice how closely the language of the text echoes the Ottawa Citizen articles previously cited...

"...these tracts have been largely cleared away to meet the needs and the wastes of a growing population, and now only occasional monarchs, towering head and shoulders above the surrounding forests of other growth, suggest the magnificence of the primeval Pine forests."

I should mention that The IUCN Red List has some comments of both historic and contemporary relevance — take a sec to check them out here.