Pinus ponderosa

Pinus ponderosa, commonly known as the ponderosa pine, bull pine, blackjack pine, western yellow-pine, or filipinus pine is a very large pine tree species of variable habitat native to mountainous regions of western North America. It is the most widely distributed pine species in North America.^:4

Pinus Ponderosa can be found in a variety of erect forms, from British Columbia to the west through 16 western U.S. States. It has also been introduced successfully in New Zealand and other temperate regions in Europe. It was first documented in modern science in 1826 in eastern Washington near present-day Spokane (of which it is the official city tree). On that occasion, David Douglas misidentified it as Pinus resinosa (red pine). In 1829, Douglas concluded that he had a new pine among his specimens and coined the name Pinus ponderosa for its heavy wood. In 1836, it was formally named and described by Charles Lawson, a Scottish nurseryman. It was adopted as the official state tree of Montana in 1949.

Description

Pinus ponderosa is a large coniferous pine (evergreen) tree. It is distinguished from other species by its bark. The bark of mature to older individuals is yellow-orange-red in broad to very large plates with black crevices. The bark of younger trees is blackish brown, which was called “blackjacks” in the early days of logging. Ponderosa pine’s five subspecies, as classified by some botanists, can be identified by their characteristically bright-green needles (contrasting with blue-green needles that distinguish Jeffrey pine). The longest subspecies is the Pacific, at 7.8 inches (19.8 cm), and has the most flexible needles in plumelike fascicles of three. The Columbia ponderosa pine has long–4.7-8.1 in (12.0-20.5 cm)–and relatively flexible needles in fascicles of three. Rocky Mountains subspecies is shorter at 3.6 to 5.7 inches (9.2-14.4cm) and has strong needles that grow in scopulate (bushy, densely tuft-like fascicles) of two or three. The subspecies of the southwestern has 4.4-7.8 inches (11.2-19.8cm), and stout needles that grow in fascicles of three (averaging between 2.7-3.5in (69-89 cm). The central High Plains subspecies has the smallest needles (11.2-19.8 cm), stout branches at narrow angles to the trunk, and long green needles (5.8-7.9 in (14.8-17.9cm) that extend the longest along the branch. It resembles a fox tail. Needles are widest, stoutest, and fewest (averaging 2.2-2.8 in (56-71 mm)) for the species.

The scent of P. Ponderosa is disputed by different sources. Some state that the bark smells of turpentine, which could reflect the dominance of terpenes (alpha- and beta-pinenes, and delta-3-carene). Others state that it has no distinctive scent, while still others state that the bark smells like vanilla if sampled from a furrow of the bark. Sources agree that the Jeffrey pine is more strongly scented than the ponderosa pine.

Size

The National Register of Big Trees lists a ponderosa pine that is 235 ft (72 m) tall and 324 in (820 cm) in circumference. A laser was used to measure the height of a Pacific Ponderosa Pine in Oregon’s Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest. It measured 268.35 feet (81.79m) high. The measurement was performed by Michael Taylor and Mario Vaden, a professional arborist from Oregon. The tree was climbed on October 13, 2011, by Ascending The Giants (a tree-climbing company in Portland, Oregon) and directly measured with tape-line at 268.29 ft (81.77 m) high. As of 2015, a Pinus lambertiana specimen was measured at 273.8 ft (83.45 m), which surpassed the ponderosa pine previously considered the world’s tallest pine tree.

Cultivation

This species is grown as an ornamental plant in parks and large gardens.^{[citation needed]}

Use in nuclear testing

During Operation Upshot-Knothole in 1953, a nuclear test was performed in which 145 ponderosa pines were cut down by the United States Forest Service and transported to Area 5 of the Nevada Test Site, where they were planted into the ground and exposed to a nuclear blast to see what the blast wave would do to a forest. The trees were partially burned and blown over.

Taxonomy

Modern forestry research has identified five different taxa of P. ponderosa, with differing botanical characters and adaptations to different climatic conditions. Four of these have been termed “geographic races” in forestry literature. Some botanists historically treated some races as distinct species. In modern botanical usage, they best match the rank of subspecies and have been formally published.

Subspecies and varieties

Distributions of the subspecies in the United States are shown in shadow on the map. The distribution of ponderosa Pine is from Critchfield to Little. The closely related five-needled Arizona pine (Pinus arizonica) extends southward into Mexico.

Before the distinctions between the North Plateau race and the Pacific race were fully documented, most botanists assumed that ponderosa pines in both areas were the same. When a botanist and a geneticist from California found in 1948 a distinct tree on Mt. They named it Washoe pine Pinus Washoensis after a botanist and a geneticist from California who discovered a distinct tree on Mt. Subsequent research determined this to be one of the southernmost outliers of the typical North Plateau race of ponderosa pine.^:30-31 Its current classification is Pinus ponderosa var. washoensis.

An additional variety, tentatively named P. p. var. willamettensis, found in the Willamette Valley in western Oregon, is rare. This is most likely one of many subspecies of Pacific ponderosa Pine found in the Willamette Valley, which extends north to the southeast corner of Puget Sound in Washington.

Distinguishing subspecies

The subspecies of P. ponderosa can be distinguished by measurements along several dimensions:^:23-24:17

Notes

Names of taxa and transition zones are on the map.

Numbers in columns were derived from multiple measurements of samples taken from 10 (infrequently fewer) trees on a varying number of geographically dispersed plots.

Numbers in each cell show calculated mean +- standard error and number of plots.