Jack Pine (Pinus banksiana)

Form

Height 50 to 70 feet; diameter rarely exceeds 2 feet; open, conical shaped crown; often retaining dead branches on trunk all the way to the ground.

Bark

Dark brown, irregularly divided by furrows into small scales.

Leaf

Needle length about 1 inch; light to dark yellow-green; sharply-poined; two in a bundle and slightly twisted.

Fruit

Cones--length about 1.5 inches; 2 years to maturity; often strongly curved, brown when ripe, turning gray later; resinous; sometimes remaining on branches unopened and containing good seeds for many years; small-winged triangular seeds which may be carried far in strong winds. Many trees begin producing cones as early as 7 years old.

Range

Found commonly on the sandy soils of the northern half of the state, and extends downward along the Wisconsin River to Iowa and Grant counties.

Wood

Light, soft, not strong, close grained, clear pale brown with thick, nearly white sapwood. Primarily a pulpwood species but also used for laths, box material and increasingly for lumber.

Notes

Due to the resinous nature of its cones, jack pine is usually one of the first tree species to occupy a site after fire.