Lodgepole Pine

(Pinus contorta)

Color Photograph: © by and courtesy of Charles Webber, California Academy of Sciences

Lodgepole Pine (Pinus contorta)

Identifying Characters: Lodgepole Pine may be identified by its western distribution, the needles in bundles of 2, and the shortness of its needles (1.25 to 2.75 inches).

Similar Species: The short needles in bundles of 2 are distinctive features of Lodgepole Pine within its range.

Measurements: Mature trees 20 to 80 feet tall and 1 to 3 feet in diameter; species is geographically variable.

Cones: Cones 1 to 2 inches long, elongate and ovate; cones oblique and one sided at base giving cone a curved, asymmetric appearance; cones highly persistent and remaining closed for many year; cone scales with a keel and a small apical spine.

Needles: Needles in bundles of 2, thick, and slightly flattened; needles 1.25 to 2.75 inches long; bundle sheath not shed after the first year; color yellow-green to dark green.

Bark: Bark light brown, thin and scaly over most of the species range; coastal populations have dark brown, thick bark furrowed into scaly plates.

Native Range: Lodgepole Pine is an ubiquitous species with a wide ecological amplitude. It grows throughout the Rocky Mountain and Pacific coast regions, extending north to about latitude 64° N. in the Yukon Territory and south to about latitude 31° N. in Baja California, and west to east from the Pacific Ocean to the Black Hills of South Dakota. Forests dominated by lodgepole pine cover some 6 million ha (15 million acres) in the Western United States and some 20 million ha (50 million acres) in Canada. (Silvics of North America. 1990. Agriculture Handbook 654.)

Habitat: Lodgepole Pine is found in high mountains on well drained soils, often in pure stands. The coastal varieties of Lodgepole pine (Shore Pine) occur in bogs, muskegs, and sandy sites.