Chinese White Pine

Growth habit

Tree

Perennation

Long-lived polycarpic perennial

Native distribution

Central and Western China

Location

Comstock Knoll and Rhododendron Collection, Conifer Slope

Source of plant

Morris Arboretum, Jim Stirushnik, Fairweather Gardens

Description

Medium-tall tree, reaching 20 m in height; branches spreading widely and horizontally, bark thin,greenish-gray, smooth; young shoots yellow-green, glabrous, occasionally lightly glandular, budscylindrical, obtuse with a short tip, brown, slightly resinous, bud scales long-acuminate and spreading near the apex; needles loosely arranged in 5's, persisting for 2 to 3 years, thin and limp, spread widely apart or somewhat pendulous, yellow-green(!) to bright green, 8 to 15 cm long, acute, the margins dentate, without stomatal lines on the parenchyma, sheath abscising in the first year; cones grouped 1 to 3, stalked, 10 to 20cm long, erect at first, pendulous in the second year, oblong-conical, 4 to 6 cm wide, seed scales thick and woody, scale ends rounded or acutely tapered, margin occasionally curving somewhat, yellow-brown with small, obtuse umbo; seeds red-brown, 10 to 12 mm long, wingless with a scabrous margin.

USDA Hardiness Zone

6

Special characteristics

winter interest