Medicinal plant

Pine

Pinus spp.

An aromatic needle tea, after positive ID. Also called Eastern White Pine.

This entry covers true pines (Pinus), not evergreens generally — a spruce, fir, or hemlock isn’t a substitute, and yew (Taxus) is poisonous. Pine has a long history of food and traditional respiratory use, but this guide treats it primarily as an aromatic wild food/tea plant, not as a proven respiratory treatment.

Three parts see traditional use: the needles, for aromatic tea; tender spring tips, for seasonal culinary or aromatic use; and the resin or pitch, applied externally.

Properties

Aromatic — Rich in aromatic oils that often support digestion or breathing

Expectorant — Helps loosen and move mucus from the lungs and chest

Anticatarrhal — Helps reduce or clear excess mucus and congestion

Energetics
Warming Drying Stimulating
Look alikes Positively identify the tree as a true pine (Pinus) before using it. Never use an evergreen based only on "it looks like pine" — do not treat other conifers or evergreens as interchangeable, and yew (Taxus) must never be substituted for pine; it is poisonous. If you can't confidently identify it as pine, don't use it.
Note The simple beginner rule — pine needles grow in bundles. If the needles aren't bundled, this guide doesn't apply. Eastern white pine is the easiest local reference, since its soft needles grow in bundles of five.
Pine (Pinus spp.), historical botanical illustration

Growing and using it

Life cycle

Evergreen perennial tree.

What to buy

A nursery-grown sapling of a confirmed true pine (Pinus). For a Vermont/New England materia medica, eastern white pine (Pinus strobus) is the most practical local reference species to look for — its soft needles growing in bundles of five make it easy to confirm.

Best way to start

Nursery sapling.

Seed starting

Possible but slow and unnecessary for a home materia-medica garden.