Pinus contorta Douglas ex Louden Commonly known as Lodgepole pine Family : Pinaceae
Ecological features: Perennial Tree. Needles usually occur in pairs and sometimes singly. They are 1 to 3 inches long, often twisted, and dark green to yellow green. Cones are about 2 inches long, ovoid, and asymmetrical at the base. They occasionally open at maturity, but more commonly remain closed for 10 to 20 years. The ends of the cone scales are light yellowish brown, often with a recurved prickle. Bark of coastal trees is about an inch thick and is fissured; on inland trees the bark is thinner, scaly, and orange brown to gray in color. Mature lodgepole pine varies greatly in size. In the moist Sierra Nevada Mountains of California, trees reach average breast high diameters (4.5 feet from the ground) of 15 to 18 inches and heights of 90 to 100 feet in 100 years. In eastern Oregon, trees 100 years old average 7 to 13 inches in Southern Rocky Mountain region, 21 % is in the Pacific Northwest region, and 6 % is in the Pacific Southwest region. Montana has the greatest volume of lodgepole pine sawtimber and is followed, in decreasing order of volume, by Colorado, Wyoming, Oregon, Idaho, Utah, California, Washington, Alaska, and Nevada Geographic/Elevational distribution: 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. Interesting Ecological Facts: Fire dependency – Pinus contorta is fire successional over most of its range and is characterized by prolific seeding and high seed viability in disturbed habitats, often resulting in extremely slow-growing, overly dense stands.
Biology 5460 Fall 2010 J. Sung Online Vegetation Manual