#18 WEYMOUTH PINE
Pinus strobus
This tree can be found at at the south end of the East Walk.
| Distribution: | Native of eastern north America in the temperate forests. Mature trees can live to over 500 years. As an introduced species, it is naturalised in the Czech Republic and southern Poland. It has spread from specimens planted as ornamental trees. It prefers well-drained or sandy soils and a humid climate, but can also grow in boggy areas and rocky highlands. In mixed forests, this dominant tree towers over many others, including some of the large broad-leaf hardwoods. It provides food and shelter for numerous forest birds. |
| Planting Date: | March 1913 |
| Bought from: | Plowman and Son, High Street, and Lubenham Hill, Market Harborough, Leicestershire. |
| Appearance: | The branches are spaced about every 45 cm on the trunk with five or six branches appearing like spokes on a wagon wheel. |
| Leaf: | The leaves (“needles”) are coniferous, occurring in bundles of five, or rarely three or four, with a deciduous sheath. The leaves are flexible, bluish-green, finely serrated and 5 cm to 13 cm long. |
| Fruit: | The cones are slender, 8 cm to 16 cm long and 4 cm to 5 cm broad when open, and have scales with a rounded apex and slightly reflexed tip, often resinous. The seeds are 4 mm to 5 mm long, with a slender 15 mm to 20 mm wing. Dispersed by wind. Cone production peaks every 3 to 5 years. Self-fertile, but seeds produced this way tend to result in weak, stunted, and malformed seedlings. |
| Tree height and girth: | 2009: Height 24 m and girth 161 cm 2023: Height 25 m and girth 178 cm |
| Uses: | Ornamental tree, in the UK. A soft wood, used in a broad range of interior and exterior building applications. |
| Plant Hunter: | Brought from Maine as seeds in 1605 by Royal Navy Captain George Weymouth |
| Introduction Date: | Planted at Longleat and officially introduced in 1705 |
| Anecdotes and Comments: | 2023 rated County Champion by height and girth by The Tree Register. From Mr Hammond’s Planting Book: ‘5 ft. 4 in. (1914), 5 or 6 cones (1917), reached 17 ft. 2 in. (1921).’ 5 ft. 4 in. (1.63 m) 17 ft. 2 in. (5.23 m) US name: Eastern white pine, Northern white pine or White pine. The name given by the indigenous people of North America translates as ‘The Tree with the Great Long Leaves’. |