Pinus resinosa
Red Pine
Unlike the White Pine, the needles of the Red Pine appear in bundles of two and stand more stiffly from the twig. Red Pine bark starts out as orange-red and becomes reddish-brown with scaly diamond-shaped plates when it matures. The Arboretum’s Red Pines were planted in the 1930s-40s as part of the effort, led by the Civilian Conservation Corps, to reforest abandoned farmland. In nature, Red Pines benefit from fire to regenerate. Fire burns away the humus in the soil, which kills off competing vegetation, exposes mineral soil and reduces the population of insects that feed on Red Pine cones. A tree born out of fiery conditions is, naturally, very fire-tolerant.