Pinus strobus | |
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Pinus strobus group | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Gymnospermae |
Division: | Pinophyta |
Class: | Pinopsida |
Order: | Pinales |
Family: | Pinaceae |
Genus: | Pinus |
Subgenus: | P. subg. Strobus |
Section: | P. sect. Quinquefoliae |
Subsection: | P. subsect. Strobus |
Species: | P. strobus
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Binomial name | |
Pinus strobus |
Pinus strobus, commonly called the eastern white pine, northern white pine, white pine, Weymouth pine (British), and soft pine[2] is a large pine native to eastern North America. It occurs from Newfoundland, Canada, west through the Great Lakes region to southeastern Manitoba and Minnesota, United States, and south along the Appalachian Mountains and upper Piedmont to northernmost Georgia and perhaps very rarely in some of the higher elevations in northeastern Alabama.[3] It is considered rare in Indiana.[4]
The Haudenosaunee maintain the tree as the central symbol of their multinational confederation, calling it the "Tree of Peace",[5] where the Seneca use the name o’sóä’[6] and the Kanienʼkehá:ka call it onerahtase'ko:wa.[7] Within the Wabanaki Confederacy, the Mi'kmaq use the term guow to name the tree,[8] both the Wolastoqewiyik and Peskotomuhkatiyik call it kuw or kuwes,[9] and the Abenaki use the term kowa.[10]
It is known as the "Weymouth pine" in the United Kingdom,[11] after Captain George Weymouth of the British Royal Navy, who brought its seeds to England from Maine in 1605.[12]
The tree had four symbolic roots, the Great White Roots of Peace, spreading north, east, south, and west. If any other nation ever wished to join the League, it would have to follow the White Roots of Peace to the source and take shelter beneath the tree. Atop the tree, he placed an eagle to scream out a warning at the approach of danger. He symbolically planted the tree in the land of the Onondagas, the place of the Grre, the confederate lords, or peace chiefs, would sit beneath it and be caretakers of the Great Peace.