Ponderosa pine

Leaves

Form

• Needles evergreen
• In bundles of 3 (occasionally 2 or 5)
• Straight, stiff but flexible, very sharp
• Edges sharply toothed
• Bundle-sheath persistent

Length

• 12–25 cm

Colour

• Dark yellowish-green

Buds

Form

• Sharp-pointed, usually resinous

Length

• 15–20 mm

Twigs

Form

• Stout, hairless

Colour

• Yellowish-green, changing to orange-brown in the second season

Seed cones (mature)

Form

• Cylindrical to narrowly ovoid when closed
• Pendulous
• Almost stalkless
• Often in groups of 3

Length

• 7–15 cm

Colour

• Lustrous reddish-brown

Structure

• Scales thickened at the tips, bearing rigid, sharp prickles

Timing

• Open at maturity to release the seeds
• Cones usually fall during winter, leaving their stalks with a few basal scales attached to the branchlets

Seeds

Form

• Mottled
• With a boat-shaped terminal wing

Length

• Seed about 7 mm
• Seed wing about 20 mm

Colour

• Dark brown

Seedlings

Form

• 5–12 cotyledons, toothless, occasionally sparsely toothed on the midvein near the base
  

Length

• 25–60 mm

Bark

Form

• Rough and scaly when young
• With age becoming deeply fissured into large, flat, flaky plates, 2–10 cm thick

Colour

• Dark grey when young, with age becoming orange-brown

Wood

Texture

• Uniform in texture
• Moderately strong and hard

Colour

• Heartwood yellowish to reddish-brown
• Sapwood nearly white to pale yellow

Morphology

• Heartwood moderately decay-resistant
• Sapwood very wide

Uses

• Window sashes and frames, siding, door moldings, paneling, patterns, cabinetwork, boxes, and crates

Size

Height

• To 35 m, occasionally 50 m

Diameter

• To 100 cm

Maximum age

• Several hundred years

Tree form

Forest-grown

Trunk

• Straight, with little taper
• Often branch-free for most of its length

Crown

• Wide, irregularly cylindrical, flat-topped in old trees
• Branches stout, lower ones often drooping
• Upper ones on old crowns ascending

Root system

• Very wide-spreading
• Often with a deep, massive taproot up to 2 m long
• Very windfirm

Habitat

Site

• Occurs on a wide variety of soils

Light tolerance

• Intolerant of shade

Associated species

• In pure open stands, especially at lower elevations in areas subject to frequent forest fires
• Also in mixed stands with Douglas-fir and western larch at elevations up to 1500 m

Range

Southern part of interior British Columbia