Eastern White Pine (Pinus Strobus) as the name suggests comes from the eastern side of North America, normally in sandy/loamy soils and dry sites. They grow relatively fast for coniferous trees and can live up to 200 years! Besides being an elegant Christmas tree, the White Pine has plenty to offer. From lumber to tea there are so many ways this tree can house or heal you. Beginner forager’s should know of the great White Pine and its distinctive identification features, including the long needles in sets of five, a light green color and soft appearance.
Spiritual Importance of White Pine
There is an indigenous story about the white pine that gives this tree plenty of importance. It was said that there were Iroquois tribes at war with one another for years. One day the chiefs decided to meet under the great White Pine in order to find an amicable solution. They end up making peace and decide to bury all their weapons beneath the tree as a symbol of their new harmonious relationship. Since then, the White Pine has been a symbol of long lasting peace. White pine is a common smudging herb, used to draw out sickness and turmoil and invite inner peace, wisdom, and abundance.
Medicine
White Pine is great for the lung ailments; helping relieve smoker’s lung, tuberculosis, and phlegm. The soft inner bark was chewed to relieve a sore throat from the flu and helps clear the airways. Some people make a more concentrated White Pine cough syrup with water and honey, sometimes mixing in some other medicinal herbs. White Pine is a cough suppressant, pain reliever, anti-fungal, anti bacterial, and more. The bark was also used to wrap wounds to prevent infections. The sap has been used to draw out poisons, infections, and splinters from the body. It has the incredible ability to “draw out” negative and harmful things from the body. This can be something as minor as a splinter, or could be a cycle of pain that is holding you in the past. It does this to allow you to heal and find calm and peace.
Food
Tea is one way to consume White Pine, and is one of the most simplest. Take clean pine needles, chop them up and steep in hot water for at least 10 minutes to enjoy the healing affects. The more you steep, the more powerful the medicine. Putting the needles in boiling water will make it taste bitter and decrease the nutritional benefits, so make sure to have hot but not boiling water. This tea does contain plenty of vitamin C (five times the amount in a lemon) so stick to only a few cups a day.
The pitch (soft inner park) can be dried and ground into a calorie rich flour that can be added into a wheat flour for more fuel. More simply, you can eat the young pinecones and needles, and even candy the needles to preserve them. They are a protein and fatty rich snack when hiking or camping!
Other Uses
The wood is popular in the lumber industry, used for trim, window sills, doorways, cabinetry, and the interior of boats. White Pine is also an excellent campfire wood or kindling as it catches quickly and holds a fire well. You can also make a powerful and waterproof glue out of the resin that was used to secure arrowheads to the shaft.
There are plenty of uses for White Pine which can be as simple as a trail snack or as complicated as boat building supplies. The White Pine also has a heavy spiritual importance to the Indigenous peoples and was a well respected tree of wisdom and peace. Needles, cones, and bark are all edible, and this easy to identify tree is a great beginner’s friendly foraging species.