cabbage pine n chiefly NEast Cf buckwheat pine n, bull pine n 2
An old white pine n 1 with a bushy, spreading shape.
1906 NH Forestry Comm. Biennial Rept. for 1905–6 190, Where the trees [=white pines] are scattered singly, the stimulus of direct light from all sides has led to a bushy form, expressively called “cabbage pine.” 1911 VT Ag. Exper. Sta. Bulletin 156.128, Quite a definite form of [white] pine is the branching, bushy topped tree that grows out in the open pastures. Such trees in some regions are variously called “cabbage” or “bull pine.” 1942 Smithsonian Inst. Annual Rept. for 1941 388 NEast, Gradually it dawned on the landowners and foresters that many apparently vigorous stands were worthless “cabbage pines” as the result of repeated attacks of the white pine weevil. 1968 DARE (Qu. T17, . . Different kinds of pine trees) Inf MD42, Cabbage pine—same as bull pine. 1995 DARE File nwMA, Sawyers hate those old cabbage pine. They are old open-grown pine with big limbs going way out and up. When one is cut, it ruins lots of trees on the way down. 2010 Berkshire Eagle (Pittsfield MA) 26 Aug mag sec 9/4, Here large old white pines called cabbage pines grow with several large trunks rather than the customary lone trunk.