Pinus ponderosa subsp. benthamiana

Silba 2009

Common names

Ponderosa pine (Kral 1993), Pacific race ponderosa.

Taxonomic notes

Syn.: Pinus benthamiana Hartweg 1847; Pinus ponderosa Douglas var. pacifica Haller 2011.

This subspecies is locally sympatric with and occasionally hybridizes with Pinus jeffreyi, but hybrids are rare and in areas of sympatry it usually occurs at lower elevations than P. jeffreyi (Kral 1993).

Description

Trees to 72 m tall and 250 cm dbh. Twigs red-brown, not glaucous. Buds very resinous. Leaves 3 per fascicle, 12-25(-30) cm × (1.2-)1.5-2 mm. Pollen cones red. Seed cones 8-15 cm, symmetric; apophyses of fertile scales moderately raised; umbo low-pyramidal, tapering acuminately to short broad-based, strongly outcurved prickle. Seed body 6-9 mm with a 15-25 mm wing (Kral 1993, F. Callahan email 2011.08.19).

Distribution and Ecology

USA: Oregon west of the Cascade crest; California, particularly in the Sierra Nevada but also in a few areas in the Coast Ranges; south nearly to the Mexican border (M.P. Frankis, pers. comm. 1998.12). Habitat montane, dry, open forests at 0-2300 m (Kral 1993).

See Pinus ponderosa for an interactive distribution map.

Big tree

The largest volume, 143.5 m³, is found in the Lovitt tree, which grows at an undisclosed location in California. It has a 253 cm dbh and is 72.2 meters tall (Michael Taylor email 2009.10.17). The tallest tree, which is also the tallest known specimen of Pinus, occurs in the Myers Creek drainage of Siskiyou National Forest, Oregon; discovered on 2011.01.03 by Michael Taylor and Mario Vaden, it has a laser-determined height of 81.69 meters. Another, nearby tree is 81.67 meters tall. Other notable trees include:

• The Grizzly Meadow Monarch, which grows along the West Fork Chiquito Creek in Sierra National Forest, California. Its volume is 126.2 m³, and it is 222 cm dbh and 68.0 meters tall (Van Pelt 2000).
• The Clark's Creek Giant grows in California, has a volume of 131.7 m³, and is 59.4 meters tall. I don't have the precise dbh, but it is about 280 cm (Michael Taylor email 2009.10.17).
• The Hartman's Bar tree grows on the Hartman's Bar Trail in Plumas National Forest, California. Its volume is 117 m³, and it is 237 cm dbh and 69.2 meters tall.
• The Bear Creek Twin along the Bear Creek Trail in Trinity Alps Wilderness, California, has a volume of 115 m³, dbh of 238 cm, and is 68.0 meters tall (Van Pelt 2000).

As of late 2012, the list of the tallest pines in the world is pretty evenly shared by Pacific ponderosas and sugar pines, with most trees in the Siskiyou National Forest or Yosemite National Park. For unknown reasons that probably include factors such as negligible soil water deficits and low wind loading, these sites are evidently the best place in the world for growing tall pines. Michael Taylor has provided the following list of all pines known to be over 75 m tall (email 2012.02.29 and 2012.10.07):

Height range (m)	No. of trees	Species	Location
81-82	2	P. ponderosa	Siskiyou National Forest
80-81	1	P. lambertiana	Yosemite National Park
79-80	2	P. ponderosa	Siskiyou NF
79-80	1	P. lambertiana	Yosemite NP
78-79	4	P. ponderosa	Siskiyou NF
78-79	2	P. lambertiana	Yosemite NP
77-78	2	P. ponderosa	Siskiyou NF, Yosemite NP
77-78	3	P. lambertiana	Siskiyou NF, Umpqua NF, Yosemite NP, Calaveras Big Trees State Park
76-77	5	P. ponderosa	Siskiyou NF, Yosemite NP
76-77	1	P. lambertiana	Yosemite NP
75-76	3	P. ponderosa	Siskiyou NF
75-76	3	P. lambertiana	Calaveras Big Trees SP, Umpqua NF, Kings Canyon NP

Oldest

Dendrochronology

Ethnobotany

A valuable timber tree, the harvest of which far exceeds regrowth because of high timber value and multiple uses of the wood (Kral 1993).

Observations

Since the species is so common within its range, only a few choice locales can be mentioned here. It can be seen at low montane elevations in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks, in Yosemite National Park, and in Calaveras Big Trees State Park, all in California. The Calaveras forests are particularly noteworthy because a prescribed fire program has been implemented in the park. Consequently, the stands include examples of open pine forest understory with pine seedling regeneration. Such a sight has not been seen in many American ponderosa stands this past century, due to widespread fire suppression that seems to have doomed many of our finest ponderosa forests to replacement by more shade-tolerant conifers such as Abies grandis.

Remarks

It is the largest and stateliest yellow pine in North America (Kral 1993).

The pine forests of California were eloquently described by John Muir (1894).

Citations

Haller and Vivrette. 2011. Ponderosa pine revisited. Aliso 29(1):53-57.

Silba, J. 2009. Journal of the International Conifer Preservation Society 16(1): 30.

See also

Arno and Gyer (1973).

Hickman (1993).

The Ecological Role of Fire in Sierran Conifer Forests.