Ponderosa Pine

By

David Doyle

The scientific name of the Ponderosa Pine is Pinus Ponderosa. The Ponderosa has 5-10 inch needles usually in bundles of 3. It averages 60 to 100 feet in height, and 25-30 feet in width. Its hardiness zone is a range of 3-6 or in some cases it can handle a 7. Its shape is narrow to broad pyramidal when young, with time develops an irregularly cyndrical and narrow crown, with short stout branches, the lower ones often drooping. Very old trees have short, conical or flat topped crowns and are devoid of branches for one-half or more of the tree. The bark is brown to black and is vigourousley furrowed and the leaves are dark or yellowish green. The fruit this tree produces are cones, usually 3-5 together and 3-6 inches long. This tree is a very valuable forest tree and is not recommended for areas outside of which it is native, and is also useful for shelter belts and mass plantings. The Ponderosa’s native habitat is Western North America, British Columbia to Mexico and east to South Dakota and Texas. Several cultivars do exist and are distinguished and different based mainly on growth habit, needle and cone differences. Other interesting facts about this tree are that it is the state tree of Montana. Another fact is that many people think that forest fires are all bad when they’re really not. The Ponderosa Pine actually depends on forest fires for its survival because they become accustomed to the bottom half of the trees being burnt and the top half is left unburned. As you can see the Ponderosa is a very beautiful and wild looking tree that has been around for many years and hopefully for many more.

http://www.cnr.vt.edu/dendro/dendrology/syllabus/pponderosa.htm

http://www.bcadventure.com/adventure/wilderness/forest/ponderosa.htm

References:

Manual of Woody Landscape Plants by: Michael Dirr

Virginia Tech USDA Plant Database