Jack pine
species of plant
Jack pine (Pinus banksiana), also known as grey pine or scrub pine, is a species of conifer in the family Pinaceae, a North American pine.
Description
Pinus banksiana ranges from 9–22 metres (30–72 ft) in height. Some jack pines are shrub-sized, due to poor growing conditions. Although it varies among populations, jack pine trees do not usually grow particularly straight, resulting in an irregular shape similar to that of pitch pine (Pinus rigida). This pine often forms pure stands on sandy or rocky soil. Many populations are adapted to stand-replacing fires, with the cones remaining closed for many years, until a forest fire kills the mature trees and opens the cones, reseeding the burnt ground. Other populations have not been shaped by regular stand-replacing fires and have reduced serotiny. A population on the Maine coast is apparently not reliant on fire for reproduction, and some stands have developed several age classes. Populations with lower serotiny are often found on soils that are in some way limiting to faster-growing competition, such as soils shallow to bedrock, shallow to water table, or very young soils.
Its leaves are needle-shaped, evergreen, in fascicles of two, needle-like, straight or slightly twisted, stiff, sharp-pointed, light yellowish-green, spread apart; edges toothed and 2–4 cm (3⁄4–1+1⁄2 in) long.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Jack pine” as species of plant. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the science & nature register because the source frames it as species of plant. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Datasets, specimens, observations and peer-reviewed methods provide the appropriate test for the technical claims summarized here. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 18, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q806838. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “Jack pine” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.