American Trees 9.10.1978

These two covers were given to me by Pia of Finland. They show four stamps with the famous American trees on them. A brief description of each is given below.

Giant Sequoia tree. Giant Sequoia is the world's largest tree in terms of total volume. They grow to an average height of 50-85 m (150-280 ft) and 5-7 m (16-23 ft) in diameter. Record trees have been reported to be 93.6 m (307 ft) in height and 8.85 m (29 ft) in diameter. The oldest known Giant Sequoia based on ring count is 3,200 years old. Giant Sequoia is a very popular ornamental tree in many areas. Areas where it is successfully grown include most of western and southern Europe, the Pacific Northwest of North America north to southwest British Columbia, southeast Australia, New Zealand and central-southern Chile. It is also grown, though less successfully, in parts of eastern North America.

Pinus strobus, commonly known as the eastern White Pine, is a large pine native to eastern North America. It occurs from Newfoundland west through the Great Lakes region to south eastern Manitoba and Minnesota, and south along the Mississippi Basin and Appalachian Mountains to northernmost Georgia and Mississippi. It is also known as the white pine, northern white pine, orsoft pine. This tree is known to the Native American Haudenosaunee (Iroquois nation) as the Tree of Peace. It is also known as the Weymouth pine in the United Kingdom, named after George Weymouth who brought it to England in 1620.

American white oak - large slow-growing deciduous tree of the eastern United States having stout spreading branches and leaves with usually 7 rounded lobes; yields strong and durable hard wood.

American gray birch - medium-sized birch of eastern North America having white or pale grey bark and valueless wood; occurs often as a second-growth forest tree. Gray birch is an attractive tree that is often used as a winter landscape plant or when space limitations require the use of trees with a smaller stature. It can also be planted as a nurse tree to protect more valuable pines in the landscape that require protection to become established.