Pine Identification Foraging Tips (2024)

FAQs

Pine Identification Foraging Tips? ›

Pine species can be identified by their needles, cones, bark, and geographic location. When it comes to needles, the number and their size are both critical for helping narrow down the species. Most of them will have two to five needles per bundle, known as a fascicle, though a few rarer species break that rule.

How To Identify Edible Pine Needles? Edible pine needles are typically found on young pine trees and feature a bright, fresh green color. Needles of the correct species will have a slightly sour or tangy taste and a fragrant pine aroma.

Another way to identify pines is by the number of needles entwined in each bundle, as well as the average length of the needles. Pines have been divided into 2 groups: white and yellow pines. Pines described as white pines have needles bundled in groups of five, and include Sugar, Whitebark and Western White Pines.

Above: Tender conifer tips are easy to spot in mid to late spring. Apart from being conifers, what fir, spruce, and hemlock also have in common is that their new growth in late spring is delicious.

Humans can eat seeds from particular pine cones, including Sugar Pine, Western White Pine, Longleaf Pine, Red Pine, and Pitch Pine. Species unsafe to eat include Ponderosa Pine, Yellow Pine, Lodgepole Pine, and Norfolk Island Pine. Not enough is known about these species to consider them safe for human consumption.

Several trees are toxic – including ponderosa pine (such a shame considering its local abundance), common yew, and Norfolk Island pine. These plants contain toxins that can cause anything from cramps to liver damage. Additionally, women who are pregnant should NOT drink pine needle tea.

Many pine needles can be made into tea. The main exceptions are Yew, Norfolk Island Pine, and Ponderosa Pine, all of which are toxic. (All the common pine trees of the Catskills are non-toxic.) Both hemlock and eastern white pine are very common species.

The Torrey pine is the rarest native pine in the United States and, possibly, the rarest pine in the world. It only grows naturally in two places.

Ponderosa Pines are easily recognized by their tall, straight, thick trunks, clad in scaled, rusty-orange bark that has split into big plates. One can easily identify some trees by smelling their bark. Ponderosa Pine bark smells like vanilla or butterscotch.

Sugar pines commonly grow between 40 and 60 m (130–200 ft) tall, with some growing up to 76 m (250 ft) tall. The mature trunks, distinguished by deeply furrowed cinnamon-red bark, grow to 1.5–3 m (5–10 ft) wide. The sweeping branches contain needle leaves that are 8 cm (3 in) long and arranged in clusters of 5.

Are all pine trees safe to eat? ›

As far as my knowledge goes, all species in the Pinus genus are edible, though some do have cautions regarding pregnancies, mostly stemming from livestock consuming large amounts of pine. Nonetheless, please research your local species before consuming it.

All pine trees produce edible pine nuts, although only 18 species of pine trees produce seeds that are large enough to be worth harvesting. Most of these species live in North America, Europe, and Asia. The cultivation and harvesting cycles of pine nuts are both long and labor-intensive.

As noted above, pinecones, at least some varieties, are indeed edible. In fact, most pine trees are completely edible with the exception of lodgepole, Norfolk, ponderosa, and yew, which are quite toxic.

To tell them and other conifer trees apart you can look at the size and shape of the cones, the type and number of needles, and the color and texture of the bark. USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer. Western White Pine – The western white cone is similar to a sugar pine, only smaller.

Ponderosa, Monterey, and lodgepole pine are reported to be toxic, and also Norfolk island pine, balsam fir, and yew pine (these three are not really true pines).

Pinus armandii is not classified as edible by the Food and Agriculture Organization, and is called "unfit for human consumption" by food safety experts at the European Commission. Strictly speaking, they're poisonous but don't cause permanent harm, which is why you still find them on food market shelves.

Learn how to identify and safely forage for Eastern White Pine needles (Pinus strobus) and Virginia Pine needles (Pinus virginiana) - two of my favorite edible pine trees! These are a sustainable food source that you can wildcraft year-round.

Unlike Jeffrey or ponderosa pines often growing alongside them, sugar pines have short needles in bundles of five rather than three. The needles are only about four inches long, which gives the branches of this species a less bushy appearance than other common pines.

They are easily distinguished by needle count per bundle, cone length, and bark color. With experience, they can also be identified at a glance by crown shape and foliage color and texture. Although both species are grown in plantations, red pine is rarely grown in landscaping.