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Find Pine Trees: Pining for Pines
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Pining for Pines by J. Zimmerman, Ph.D.
Forest and Tree Home,
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As autumn approaches, lots of trees are showing large cones. Are these pine
trees? What kinds? And what are the tallest, fastest, and rarest?
A pine tree is an evergreen with long, slender
("needle-shaped") evergreen leaves, called "pine needles." It's in the genus
Pinus. Let's look at:
California's pines are "soft" and "hard" pines.
Soft
pines have these features:
- needles usually in bundles of 5, sometimes 4.
- bundle sheath of needles is shed.
- cones usually are up to 2" long and have a stalk.
- scales on the cones are usually without prickles.
Hard
pines have these features:
- needles usually in bundles of 2 or 3; up to 8" or more.
- bundle sheath persists (not shed after the first year).
- cones often are over 2" long and usually without a stalk.
- scales on the cones are usually thick, woody, and armed with prickles.
These soft pines
grow in California.
- (great basin) bristlecone pine (Pinus
longaeva),
- Needles in bundles of 5; 1.5" long; remain on the tree over 12 years.
Cones to 3" long; cone scales "bristle" with long, stiff, incurved prickles at
the tips of the cone scales.
An alpine tree, growing at 10,000 to 11,500
feet, especially near the summits of the White and Inyo Mountains, in
challenging climate with a short growing season. Grows slowly; may reach 20 to
60 feet tall, and up to 2 feet diameter.
- foxtail pine (Pinus balfouriana),
- Needles in bundles of 5; 1.5" long; remain on the branches for a decade,
giving a bushy ("foxtail") appearance. Cones 3" to 5" long; scales tipped with
small curved prickles.
Grows at high elevations in poor rocky soil. Two
major populations exist, separated by 300 miles. The southern population grows
in Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks, in the Sierra Nevada, 9000 to
11,300 feet; often windblown and contorted. The northern populations are in
the Klamath ranges, at 6000 to 8000 feet; often erect to 50 feet tall.
- limber pine (Pinus flexilis).
- Needles in bundles of 5. Large cylindrical cones to 8" long. A small,
short-limbed, twisted tree that grows at high elevations. The flexible
(flexilis) wood is adapted to cope with snow and ice.
Grows from
8000 feet to treeline (up to 11,500 feet). Often windblown and contorted; in
shelter reaches 50 feet tall.
- nut pine or parry pinyon (Pinus
quadrifolia).
- Needles in bundles of 4 (sometimes 5 or 3) are bright green, stout and
stiff. Dull yellow-brown egg-shaped 2" cones.
Grows in dry, gravelly
slopes of foothills and mountains, and on alluvial fans. Found from 3000 to
9500 feet.
- singleleaf pinyon pine (Pinus
monophylla).
- Bears 1.5" needles singly. Round, resinous cones 2" long. Large seeds.
Grows to 40 feet tall in well-drained (rocky or gravelly) dry soils. Grows
between 3000 to 9500 feet. Found on the east slope of the Sierra Nevada, and
south and west along the Techachapi Mountains and western Transverse Ranges.
- sugar pine (Pinus lambertiana).
- Needles in bundles of 5, usually twisted, with thin white lines. The
longest cone of any American conifer, the mature cone is usually 16" long, but
can reach 26". Reaches 200 feet tall (the tallest American pine) and 5 feet in
diameter.
Common in Sierra Nevada. Found in Klamath Ranges, near sea
level. Found to 9800 feet in the San Gabriel Mountains.
- western white pine (Pinus monticola).
- Needles in bundles of 5; to 5"; soft and flexible. Skinny cones to 8"
long, typically, though sometimes to 15"; on a half-inch stalk. Botanist David
Douglas first identified western white pine on Mount St. Helen's;
monticola means "inhabiting mountains."
In Sierra Nevada from
7500 to 10,000 feet. Found in the Klamath Range, sometimes as low as 400 feet.
- whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis).
- Needles in bundles of 5; 1" to 2.5" long; bluish-green. Almost spherical
cones, to 2.5" long; mature cones disintegrate on the tree (unlike cones of
other pines). In reference to the white bark noticeable on young trees,
albicaulis means the "pine with white stems."
An alpine tree that
grows at 10,000 feet or higher in California. Can grow to 60 feet tall, 2 feet
diameter; but stunted on exposed and rocky terrain.
These hard pines grow in California.
- bishop pine (Pinus muricata).
- Needles in bundles of 2; up to 6" long. Cones egg-shaped, up to 4 inches
long, with strongly prickled scales. Different varieties in north and south;
foliage is bluer in northern California variety, greener in the south.
Grows within about 12 miles of the Pacific shore, in mild, foggy areas,
including bluffs and headlands.
- Coulter (or "big cone") pine (Pinus
coulteri).
- Needles in bundles of 3; thick, rigid, deep blue-green; 8" to 12" or 14" long.
Shiny, stiff, sharp-tipped.
- Cones very large and very heavy, between 8 and 12 inches long, to 6" diameter on a long
stalk.
- Bark very dark brown. Furrowed, separated by wide scaly ridges.
Occurs in dry foothills (2500-7000 feet)
and the coastal mountains of southern California between 3000
and 6000 feet (from Mt. Diablo and the Santa Lucia Mountains to the San
Bernardino, San Jacinto, and Cuyamaca Mountains).
- gray (or "foothill" or "Digger") pine (Pinus
sabiniana).
- Needles: in bundles of 3; stiff gray-green, 9". Sometimes droopy.
- Cones: Oval, 5-8" long. Sharply pointed tips: "nasty" hooklike spurs. Seeds
eaten by native Californians.
- Bark: Gray.
- To 50 feet high, 2 feet diameter. Trunk slender and often
forked or branched. Usually in open woodland rather than forest.
Whispy crown.
Common in Sierra foothills. Primarily in the coastal mountains of
southern California between 3000 and 6000 feet. Found from Mt. Diablo and
Santa Lucia Mountains in the north to San Bernardino, San Jacinto, and
Cuyamaca Mountains in the south.
- Jeffrey pine (Pinus jeffreyi).
- Needles in bundles of 3; 5" to 10" long. Large and elongate cones, 5" to
15".
- Cones: to 10" long. A long, reflexed spine terminates each cone scale;
smooth to touch because the prickles on the cones curve inward so they are not felt on the surface.
- Bark Bark in large scaly plates.
Vanilla or pineapple scent in the deep narrow fissures in the dark reddish-brown bark.
Compared to ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa):
- More tolerant to cold and more resistant to drought, so more common than
ponderosa pine at higher altitudes;
- More fragrant.
Matures at 80 to 150 feet.
A montane species that grows on dry, exposed slopes up to 7000 feet.
- knobcone pine (Pinus attenuata).
- Needles: Stiff needles in bundles of 3; 4" to 5" long; pale yellow-green.
- Cones: 3" to 6" long.
Clusters of 3-5.
Remain sealed; most widely-spread closed-cone pine.
New cones are green, yellow, brown.
Older cones are grayish.
Distinctive, knobby,
oblique cones bent at the apex; cones occur in whorls on the branches; cones
so persistent that some get overgrown by the wood of the tree.
- Bark: Trunk with major limbs bristles with cones.
- To 30 feet high; some can reach 100 feet; open crown.
Grows on dry, rocky, or other poor montane
soils like serpentine outcrops from 1000 feet to 4000 feet.
- lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta).
- Needles in bundles of 2; 1" to 3" long; stiff, dark green, often twisted
("contorted") in a spiral with sharp points. Cones 1" to 2" long; seed scales
tipped with sharp prickles. A straight, tall, and slender tree, to 80 feet
tall, 3 feet diameter.
A very adaptable tree that can grow in many
environments, from watery bogs to dry sandy soils. One of the first trees to
invade after a wildfire. From 6000 to 9000 feet in moist sites. To 11,000 feet
on drier sites. Found throughout the Sierra Nevada.
- Monterey pine (Pinus radiata).
- Needles: in bundles of 3 (rarely in bundles of 2), flexible, bright
blue-green or grass-green.
- Cones: Oval, 3-7" long, with light-brown rounded scales.
Branches retain cones in many whorls or circles. Closed, but open and close frequently
with changes in humidity.
- Bark: brown to grey-black.
- To 100 feet tall, to 3 feet diameter, dense crown.
Found in three rare small California mainland locations and two off-shore islands; but widely planted
in New Zealand, Australia, and Chile.
Prefers humid and foggy coastal areas, from sea level to 1000 feet in the Santa Lucia Range. Up to
2100 feet on Cedros Island.
- ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa).
- A.k.a. Sierra or (western) yellow pine.
- Needles: Needles in bundles of 3 (rarely some bundles of 2 also occur); 5" to 10"
long, in tufts toward the ends of branches; dark yellowish-green.
- Cones: Oval cones to 3" to 6" long. Prickly.
- Bark: Yellow to reddish-brown. Sheds thin flakes.
- To 180 or 200 feet tall, 4 feet diameter, of "ponderous" size;
grows a broad, open crown. Its long, deep root lets it access deep moisture,
and prevents wind-throw. Can live to 500 years.
Fire suppression has removed the view that John Muir saw of 200-feet-plus trees in
separate park-like stands.
Found at 7000 to 8000 feet
in southern California, and at 5000 to 6500 in northern California.
Dominates mid-elevation Sierra Nevada.
- Torrey pine (Pinus torreyana).
- Torrey Pine is unique: the only hard pine with 5 needles per bundle.
Egg-shaped cones to 5" long. A 40-foot tree.
Natural occurrence is now
limited to two dry, sandy coastal regions of southern California (coastal San
Diego County and Santa Rosa Island off the coast).
Similar trees: When is a pine not a pine?
When is a pine not a pine?
When it's:
- Not in the Pine genus, Pinus.
- Even if it's in the Pine family, Pinaceae.
Such "non-pine" Pinaceae members include:
Book Choice: Ronald M. Lanner's
Conifers
of California
Resources - Related pages.
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| Check out
the current hottest books on trees and forests.
|
Forest and Tree Home,
Glossary pages:
A, B,
C, D,
E, F,
G, H,
I, J,
K, L,
M, N,
O, P,
Q, R,
S, T,
U, V,
W, X,
Y, Z.
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