“…has characteristically aromatic bark. It can smell sweet, resembling butterscotch or vanilla.”– Fun Facts
Ponderosa pine tree (Siegmund, 2005)
Pinus ponderosa was first published in “Agriculturalist’s Manual” in 1836. David Douglas first collected this species from near Spokane, Washington and brought seeds to the United Kingdom in 1828. The authorship of the species is in dispute, with some suggesting that the plant was described by Lawson in 1836 for Douglas. Some suggest the correct name is Pinus ponderosa Douglas ex C. Lawson whereas others state it as Pinus ponderosa P. Lawson & C. Lawson.
Ponderosa pine has characteristic bark that is flaky and colorful, forming small plates around mature trees (Munts, 2024). Ponderosa pine can be confused with Austrian Pine (Pinus nigra) whose needles are only up to 6 inches long (MDC, 2024) whereas Ponderosa pine needles are usually larger, ranging from 6-12 inches (Kral, 2020); Austrian Pine always holds 2 needles per fascicle (MDC, 2024), while Ponderosa typically holds 3 (Munts, 2024) but can hold up to 5 (Kral, 2020).
Ponderosa pine often has characteristically aromatic bark. It can smell sweet, resembling butterscotch or vanilla (Munts, 2024).
The ponderosa pine has many common names, including the western yellow pine, bull pine, blackjack pine, western longleaf pine, western red pine, western pitch pine, Sierra brownbark pine, and ponderosa white pine, likely due to several described varieties or subspecies that are now synonyms.
Native
Introduced
Ponderosa pine typically lives in low-medium water habitats and is adapted to shallow, difficult soils and even bare rock. It typically lives in mountains from 6,000 ft to 8,500 ft. It supports a large variety of understory species. The seeds are eaten by numerous bird species and beavers can feed on the bark (USDA, 2014).
Ponderosa pine is considered secure overall (NatureServe, 2016).
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