Most pines that you encounter in gardens and landscaping around Nanaimo are exotic, horticultural varieties, but here and there in dry rocky outcrops in the woods, or on rocks along the shore, or places like Harewood Plains, you’ll encounter our native shore pine, Pinus contorta. As indicated by these habitats, shore pine is highly drought tolerant.
(Interestingly, shore pine also tolerates very wet conditions and is one of the few trees that can grow in bogs. You may have visited the ‘Shorepine Bog Trail’ in Pacific Rim National Park on your way to Tofino. Many beautiful bog-grown shore pines there.)
In our area, shore pine is a small to medium-sized tree, it doesn’t grow as tall as Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) or western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla).
This shore pine specimen is growing quite luxuriantly, it must have access to sufficient amounts of water and nutrients. Notice the upright new shoots. This photo was taken before midsummer, and the rusty-brown male pollen-bearing cones are visible near the tips of branches. Photo credit: Staffan LindgrenThis specimen of shore pine is growing on rocks by the ocean, with little water and nutrients. Hence, its foliage is quite sparse. Some female cones are visible as egg-shaped knobs along the branches. Photo credit: 5u5 via FlickrFoliage of shore pine – the needles are arranged in a spiral pattern along the stem. The needles are longer than those on a Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii). Rusty-brown male cones are still present on the branch in early summer. Photo credit: Lynda StevensNote that the needles are attached in pairs to the stem. (The number of needles in the leaf bundle is a diagnostic characteristic for pines.) On a Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) or a Western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla), each needle is attached singly to the stem. Photo credit: Lynda Stevens Close-up of shore pine needle pairs. Each needle is slightly twisted (i.e. contorted). Note the brown flaky sheath at the base of each bundle. Photo credit: Lynda StevensReproductive structures of shore pine in late spring. The rusty-brown structures are the male pollen-bearing cones that will fall off the branch later in the summer. The larger, green cone is the female cone. Photo credit: Robert Flogaust-Faust via Wikimedia CommonsMature female cones that have opened up to release the seeds there were hidden between the cone scales. Spent female cones can remain on the branch for years, taking on a faded silvery hue. Photo credit: Walter Siegmund via Wikimedia Commons
The bark of shore pine is gray, sometimes very dark grey. As the tree ages, the bark thickens and becomes irregularly grooved.
Light grey and fairly smooth bark on a young specimen.
Light gray, irregularly cracked bark on a fairly young specimen.
Darker grey and deeply grooved bark on the trunk of an older specimen.
For a comparison between leaf/needle and female cone characteristics of the four conifers listed on this site, please see this conifer comparison page.
