Shape pagoda-like, up to 250 ft. tall. Bark bluish-black, smooth or in age forming large plates. Branches whorled on young trees, horizontal. Needles clustered in fives, soft, slender, 3-4 in. long, bluish-green with white lines. Cones often curved, 4-6 in. long. Range: Newf. to Gt. Lakes region and Minn., s. from the Virginias on the mts. to Ga. The wood is light, soft, even-grained and beautiful, used for interior finishing. “Soft Pine” has played a great role in our history. In the days of wooden battleships it made the tallest masts. Appreciated by the first colonists, it was wildly exploited in the last century. Railroads were bent to great stands of it, wooden cities and mushroom fortunes arose from its exploitation and great fleets were built to export it. Now desolate stump lands tell the decline of an empire.
Sugar Pine
SUGAR PINE
(Pinus Lambertiana)
Shape with a broad, flat topped crown. Trunk up to 220 ft. tall, massive, usually clothed with branches to the ground. Bark smooth, dark gray on young branches, thick and scaly on old trunks, the plates purplish brown to cinnamon. Branches in remote regular whorls, the upper in age very elongated, bending under the weight of many big cones. Needles 5 in a cluster, stout, rigid, 3-4 in. long, dark green. Cones very large, 12-18 in. long. Range: mts. of extreme s. Ore. along Coast Ranges and Sierra Nevada of Calif. This wood is like that of White Pine, easily worked, pale, lustrous, handsome, similarly employed. Tallest and mightiest of all pines in the world, it is famous for its stateliness. A sugary matter exudes from cuts in this tree, but it may only be safely eaten in small quantities.
Piñon Pine
PIÑON PINE
(Pinus edulis)
Shape bushy finally broad topped, 10-40 ft. tall. Trunk slim, straggling. Bark irregularly ridged, becoming covered by light ruddy scales. Branches horizontal, crooked. Needles in clusters of 2 (rarely 3) stout, rigid, ¾-1½ in. long. Cones only ½-¾ in. long, with thick scale-ends, yellowish-green, lustrous. Range: Foothills of the Rockies from Colo. to w. Tex. and through interior desert states to Mex. The sweet edible seeds are an article of commerce in Mexico and the West. A precious fuel in the desert states, wood of this scrubby tree gives off a fragrant smoke that is characteristic of the southwestern towns and Indian villages. ONE NEEDLE PINE (Pinus monophylla). Needles solitary, blue-green. Cone brown. A little tree. Calif. to Ariz. and Colo. NUT PINE (Pinus Parryana) Needles 4 in a cluster, blue-green, in-curved, 1½-2 in. long. Cone brown. Seeds edible. Centr. and s. Calif.
