Tree Identification Guide: Pine

Tree Identification Guide 775-557-2900

Joyce Wycoff

www.JoyceWycoff.com

Needles arranged mostly in clusters of 2-5 and EVERGREEN. These are pine trees.

Needles mainly clustered in groups of 2-4, the cone scales thick and often prickly.

https://www.arborday.org/trees/whattree/

Pine Identification Needle length: short (2â&#x20AC;?) longer Needle clusters: 1, 2, 3, 4, 2/3 Cone length: small <3, medium 3 - 5, large 6 - 10, very large >10 Cone shape: asymmetrical or symmetrical Size and shape Color of needles Habitat

1. Monterey Pine (P. radiata), 2. Bishop Pine (P. muricata), 3. Santa Cruz Island Pine (P. remorata), 4. Whitebark Pine (P. albicaulis), 5. Limber Pine (P. flexilis), 6. Beach Pine (P. contorta), 7. Lodgepole Pine (P. murrayana), 8. Western White Pine (P. monticola), 9. Knobcone Pine (P. attenuata), 10. Bristlecone Pine (P. longaeva), 11. Foxtail Pine (P. balfouriana), 12. Four-Leaf Pinyon (P. quadrifolia), 13. Two-Leaf Pinyon (P. edulis), 14. One-Leaf Pinyon (P. monophylla), 15. Ponderosa Pine (P. ponderosa), 16. Coulter Pine (P. coulteri), 17. Digger Pine (P. sabiniana), 18. Torrey Pine (P. torreyana), 19. Jeffrey Pine (P. jeffreyi), 20. Sugar Pine (P. lambertiana)

Native to California

https://www2.palomar.edu/users/warmstrong/arbimg4a.htm

1. Longleaf Pine (Pinus palustris), 2. Eastern White Pine (P. strobus), 3. Chihuahua Pine (P. leiophylla), 4. Arizona Longleaf Pine (P. latifolia), 5. Loblolly Pine (P. taeda), 6. Slash Pine (P. elliottii), 7. Mexican Pinyon (P. cembroides), 8. Table Mt. Pine (P. pungens), 9. Pond Pine (P. serotina), 10. Jack Pine (P. banksiana), 11. Mexican White Pine (P. reflexa)

https://www2.palomar.edu/users/warmstrong/arbimg4a.htm

1. Canary Island Pine (Pinus canariensis), 2. Himalayan Pine (P. griffithii), 3. Austrian Black Pine (P. nigra), 4. Italian Stone Pine (P. pinea), 5. Swiss Mt. Pine (P. mugo), 6. Scotch Pine (P. sylvestris), 7. Aleppo Pine (P. halepensis), 8. Smooth-Bark Mexican Pine (P. pseudostrobus), 9. Douglas Pine (Mexico: P. douglasiana), 10. Gregg's Pine (Mexico: P. greggii), 11. Japanese Black Pine (P. thunbergii), 12. Japanese Red Pine (P. densiflora var. pendula), 13. Cedros Island Pine (P. muricata var. cedrosensis)

https://www2.palomar.edu/users/warmstrong/arbimg4a.htm

1

Singleleaf Pinyon Pinus Monophylla

Pinyon Pines - edible seeds SHORT 2’’ Needles cones 1 - 2” few scales 2 Colorado Pinyon Pinus edulis

4

Parry Pinyon Pinus quadrifolia

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Needles usually held singly, Native in scattered areas from southern Idaho to Mexico.

Needles mostly clustered in groups of 2 (occasionally 1's or 3's)? Native throughout parts of the Southwest.

Needles mostly clustered in groups of 4? Native only to the mountains of southern California.

Pine Nuts Pinus monophylla is a Great Basin tree, and you’ll find it on the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada in California, as well as throughout SoCal, almost all of Nevada and Arizona, all of western and southern Utah, two southern counties in Idaho, and, weirdly, Luna County in New Mexico.

Scrubby looking pine trees that like the high desert. The tree at right is a singleleaf piñon — P. monophylla — in eastern California and is typical of the species. P. edulis, the two-leaf piñon, is similar-looking if not even scragglier.

Once you find some trees, start scoping them out in early August. You’re looking for 775-557-2900 trees that have lots of green pinecones on them. Not every tree will set cones, and only Mother Nature knows why. But you can find loaded trees next to barren ones. Sometimes small variations in elevation or whether the trees are on a north or south face of a slope can matter a lot.

Once you find the trees, remember where they are. Return to them around Labor Day. See rest of article in Evernote, folder: Trees.

https://honest-food.net/how-to-harvest-pine-nuts/

LONGER Needle Clusters of 2 Symetrical cones Austrian Pine Pinus nigra Cones symmetrical, with rounded scales, falling shortly after maturity, Not native but is fairly widely planted.

3-6” needles dk gr 2-4” cones with prickles

Asymmetrical cones Bishop Pine Lodgepole Pine Pinus muricata Pinus contorta Cones asymmetrical, with scales armed with a sharp spine, often remaining closed and attached to the tree for many years.

1-3” needles yellow to dk gr 1 1/2” cones mostly unopened seeds need fire 775-557-2900

4-7” needles gr to b/g 2-4” cones mostly unopened California & Baja coast

LONGER Needle Clusters of 2 Austrian Pine Pinus nigra

Lodgepole Pine Pinus contorta

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Bishop Pine Pinus muricata

Long Needle Clusters of 2 or 3 Ponderosa Pine Pinus ponderosa needles 4-7â&#x20AC;? long, smell butterscotch or vanilla

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Long Needles Clusters of 3 Cones large and heavy, with long, curved, claw-like spines? Only native to California Digger Pine Pinus sabiniana

Asymmetrical mostly closed dry foothills Knobcone Pine 3-6” cones Pinus attenuata with prickles

6-10” cones needles flexible

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Coulter Pine 10-14” cones Pinus coulteri needles stiff massive widow-maker

Monterey Pine coastal Pinus radiata 3-6” cones

Long Needles Clusters of 3 Knobcone Pine Pinus attenuata

Digger Pine Pinus sabiniana

Coulter Pine Pinus coulteri

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Monterey Pine Pinus radiata

Long Needles Clusters of 3 Cones smaller, no claws, symmetrical, with thinner scales Chihuahua Pine Pinus leiophylla Needles 2-4" long; cones long-stalked, cones 11/2-2" long, maturing in 3 years

Needles over 4" long; the cones short-stalked, 2-14" long, maturing in 2 years Jeffrey Pine Pinus jeffreyi Needles 4-9" long; the cones

5-15" long? Twigs are purplish.

Fragrant.

Apache Pine Pinus englemannii Needles 8-15" long; the cones 3-6" long. Twigs are orange to red-brown.

medium sized,

airy

Long Needles Clusters of 3 Chihuahua Pine Pinus leiophylla

Jeffrey Pine Pinus jeffreyi

Apache Pine Pinus englemannii

LONGER Needle Clusters of 5 needles slender and 2-4" long; the cone scales thin and without prickles

Torrey Pine Pinus torreyana Needles 8-13" long Native only to Santa Rosa Island and a small area north of San Diego, California.

Western White Pine Pinus monticola Cones 8 - 11” long

short needles 1 1/2 -3” long; cones without prickles

Whitebark Pine Pinus albicaulis cones 11/2-3" long, closed at maturity, disintegrating to release seeds?

cones 3 - 10” and open at maturity

Limber Pine Pinus flexilis cone scales not strongly turned downward; young branches very flexible?

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Sugar Pine Pinus lambertiana Cones 12 - 26” long

Southwestern White Pine Pinus strobiformis cone scales strongly turned downward

LONGER Needle Clusters of 5 Torrey Pine Pinus torreyana

Western White Pine Pinus monticola

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Whitebark Pine Pinus albicaulis

LONGER Needle Clusters of 5 Sugar Pine Pinus lambertiana

Limber Pine Pinus flexilis

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Southwestern White Pine Pinus strobiformis

Short Needle Clusters of 5 Needles 1-11/2" long with prickly cone scales?

Bristlecone Pine Pinus aristata cones have long, slender pricklesÂ

Foxtail Pine Pinus balfouriana cones have shorter, curved prickles?Â

Foxtail on left Lodgepole on right

A.Giant sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum), the world's most massive tree.

B. Coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens), the world's tallest tree, rivaled only by the Australian Eucalyptus regnans.

C. Dawn redwood (Metasequoia glyptostroboides), a forest tree of China that once flourished in North America. In Montana, petrified cones from the Eocene Epoch (40-50 million years ago) are remarkably similar to our present-day dawn redwood (red arrow). https://www2.palomar.edu/users/warmstrong/arbimg4a.htm

Three North American species of Taxodium, the type genus for Taxodiaceae: A. Pond cypress (T. ascendens), also known as T. distichum var. nutans. This species has many slender branchlets with appressed awl-shaped leaves that branch (ascend) from larger branchlets (red arrow). It apparently does not cross pollinate with the closely related T. distichum. B. B. Bald or Swamp Cypress (T. distichum). This species is native to swamplands of the southeastern United States along with T. ascendens.

C. C. Montezuma bald cypress (T. mucronatum), a Mexican species native from Sonora and Coahuila south to Guatemala. It is planted in the United States and grows well in areas that are not inundated by water. https://www2.palomar.edu/users/warmstrong/arbimg4a.htm

Left: Japanese cedar (Cryptomeria japonica), a tall Asian conifer with foliage similar to the California giant sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum).

Right: Chinese fir (Cunninghamia lanceolata), a tall timber tree in China. Like the coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens), this species commonly stump sprouts from the base of the tree. https://www2.palomar.edu/users/warmstrong/arbimg4a.htm