12 official trees of Canada’s provinces and territories

Heavy and decay-resistant, tamarack wood is turned into everything from posts and poles to dogsled runners and boat ribs. Unlike most conifers, tamarack loses its needles in the fall.

It’s a hardy one, with short, stiff branches that stand up to snow loads. First Nations use its needles to make tea as a cold remedy and have treated lung problems with its sap.

Black spruce is the most common tree in the province, appears on the Labrador flag, and is a top tree in the pulp and paper industry.

The species was nearly milled out of existence on the island because the wood was so popular with furniture makers. Now, red oaks are found mostly in patches across the province.

Red spruce was used in shipbuilding; pioneers steeped the twigs in water to cure scurvy. The tree represents “strength and versatility,” says the official proclamation.

Abundant in the southern region, it plays a key role in the furniture industry. Yellow birch can be tapped for syrup, and its wood is used for everything from doors to toothpicks.

Short-lived, the species is vital to the pulp and paper industry, grows in a wide variety of conditions, and makes up 97 per cent of the province’s Christmas tree trade.

The species can survive in almost any climatic and environmental area of the province. Roots were once used in canoe-making; now its wood is used commercially for paddles.

It grows across most of the province. Its bark— pliable, chalky white, and paper-like—was used in canoe-making, hence the alternative names “paper birch” and “canoe birch.”

Eastern white pine is the tallest tree in the province and, in colonial times, was used to make masts for the British Royal Navy ships. It was also good for coffins. (Morbid!)

The most abundant tree in the Rockies, it was used to make railway ties for tracks connecting the province to the rest of Canada. Aboriginal peoples use this pine for lodges.

This tree grows all along the West Coast, is vital to Aboriginal life and culture, and is considered one of the most valuable species in B.C. “Tree of life”? Absolutely.