the.com/whitebark
The pine that feeds grizzlies, builds soil, and is dying faster than anyone's planting it back.
means A high-elevation five-needle pine (Pinus albicaulis) of western North America's subalpine zones, named for its pale, whitish bark.
from Straightforwardly descriptive: 'white' plus 'bark,' from the tree's light-colored, smooth-to-scaly trunk, which stands out against the darker conifers around it. The species name albicaulis (Latin, 'white-stemmed') tracks the same observation. English speakers have long named trees this way — by looking at the bark and saying what they saw — and whitebark pine is a plain case of that habit, not a borrowed or storied word.
- seed disperser
- needs Clark's nutcracker birds to plant its seeds
- grizzly food
- its fatty seeds fuel bears before hibernation
- conservation status
- first widespread conifer listed as US threatened species
- killer combo
- blister rust fungus plus beetles plus warming climate