Kentucky Plant Atlas




  
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Pinaceae Pinus <Strobus> strobus
Pinus strobus L.
ALI: no HAB: 5,11,7, n/a, B, 4? ABU: g10, s7, 2
This widespread northeastern and high Appalachian species is native to only a few restricted localities in Ky., as mapped here with solid dots. But it is also abundantly planted and can spread from seed on suitable acid soils. Open dots are based on plants that are probably self-sown from plantings, or spread more locally from native populations after settlement. It is difficult or impossible to distinguish native from naturalized populations in some cases. Moreover, the decline of forest fires during the past 50-100 years has facilitated expansion of this fire-sensitive species in some areas. In addition to burning, browsing by native mammals and livestock (especially in winter) can greatly reduce regeneration of this tree species, which is generally more palatable than others in fhe genus (e.g. Burns et al. 1990). Its foliage and bark in winter may provide significant nutrition for herbivorous mammals (even starving humans), since it provides essential amino acids and vitamin C (e.g. Durzan 2009); there may be some parallels with the restriction of Thuja occidentalis across its southern range. The largest concentration of native trees may have been in WOLF, MENI. MORG, LEE and perhaps some adjacent counties, centered on the Red River Gorge (Gm, Maury 1910, Barton 1919). This concentration was disjunct from the more extensive population further south on the Cumberland Plateau, in MCRE (mostly near the Big South Fork) and several counties of Tenn. (Ch). Further north, there appear to have been native trees in or near the Cliff Section (CART, MORG, GRNP), but the species was virtually unknown in the native woods of se. Ohio and sw. W.Va. (Little 1971). Further west, small native populations occur along sandstone ravines of Clifty Creek and its triburaries in LOGA, MUHL and TODD. Gm also listed CRIT but no coll. has been located; the initial record in SERNEC from adjacent UNIO (EKY) was based on a data error. Pinus strobus is sometimes associated with the fungus, Amanita muscaria (sensu lato), even in plantations west of the Applachian region; A. muscaria var. guessowii has been recently discovered under groups of larger trees in FAYE. The current state champion is reported from the Mammoth Cave area in EDMO (KDF 2020): 120 cm dbh, 39 m tall, 15 m wide. A previous state champion was near Beaver Creek in MCRE; both trees appear to have been planted in the 19th Century.