Whitebark Pine Pinus albicaulis

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Whitebark Pine
Pinus albicaulis. By Laura Roady
This story is featured in Montana Outdoors September-October 2010 issue

The whitebark pine’s smooth, rigid needles, 1.5 to 3 inches long, grow in clusters of five near the ends of upswept branches. The bark is smooth and pale gray. Whitebark pines can grow up to 60 feet tall in moister areas, but they are usually much shorter. Constant strong winds in alpine areas can contort the trunk and cause stunting. In especially harsh environments, whitebarks often form thickets of shrublike trees called krummholz.

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