Jack Pine

The Pinus Banksiana is commonly known as Banks Pine, Banksian Pine, Black Pine, Gray Pine, Hudson Bay Pine, Jack Pine, Northern Scrub Pine, Princess Pine, as well as Scrub Pine

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Growing Regions

Jack pine occurs in Canada and in the north-central and northeastern United States. The northern boundary of its range extends east from the Mackenzie River in the Northwest Territories to Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. Its range extends southwest from Nova Scotia to Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, northern New York, Michigan, extreme northwestern Indiana, and northeastern Illinois, and northwest through Wisconsin and Minnesota to Manitoba, Saskatchewan, central Alberta, and extreme northeastern British Colombia [48]. Jack pine has been planted outside its native range in the Central States and in Alaska.

     

General Information

The currently accepted scientific name of jack pine is Pinus banksiana Lamb. [48]. A rarely described shrubby form, P. b. forma procumbens Rouseau, occurs in Quebec and Nova Scotia on rocky headlands [64]. Jack pine hybridizes with Rocky Mountain lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta var. latifolia) where their ranges overlap in central and northwestern Alberta and in scattered locations in Saskatchewan. The hybrid is P. X murraybanksiana Righter & Stockwell [48].

Jack pine is a dominant tree in the southern boreal forest region.
Associates are almost always subdominant except for aspen (Populus
spp.), paper birch (Betula papyrifera), and red pine (Pinus resinosa)
which may be codominant [34].

The following published classifications list jack pine as dominant or
codominant: 

The vegetation of Alberta [57]
Field guide to forest ecosystems of west-central Alberta [28]
Virgin plant communities of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area [59]
Plant communities of Voyageurs National Park, Minnesota, U.S.A. [46]
The principal plant associations of the Saint Lawrence Valley [32]
The vegetation of Wisconsin [31]
Classification and ordination of southern boreal forests from the 
   Hondo-Slave Lake area of central Alberta [47]
Jack pine-lichen woodland on sandy soils in northern Saskatchewan and
   northeastern Alberta [16]

• More Jack Pine Information

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