Burke: Pinus ponderosa vs. Pinus albicaulis

	Pinus ponderosa	Pinus albicaulis
	bull pine, ponderosa pine, western yellow pine	white-bark pine
Habit	Large forest tree up to 70 m. tall.	Usually a dwarf and contorted alpine tree 5-15 m. tall.
Bark	Bark thick, that of younger trees deeply furrowed and dark reddish-brown or blackish, gradually changing to cinnamon-red in older trees, divided into large plates that freely flake off.	Bark thin with whitish scales that are brownish underneath; young twigs pubescent.
Leaves	Needles usually in clusters of 3 toward the branch ends, 12-20 cm. long, yellowish-green, on spur branches that are ultimately deciduous with the needles.	Leaves in bundles of 5, yellow-green, 4-7 cm. long, somewhat curved, on spur branches that are ultimately deciduous with the needles.
Cones	Staminate cones yellow to purplish, strongly clustered, crowded at the base of shoots of the current season; ovulate cones near the branch tips, reddish-purple when young, sub-sessile, nearly horizontal, becoming reddish-brown, then brown when mature, broadly ovate, 8-14 cm. long, the scales chocolate-brown, with a thickened, yellowish-brown, strongly prickly tip.	Staminate cones numerous, red, crowded at the base of shoots of the current season; ovulate cones ovoid, deep red to purple, 5-8 cm. long, single or in small clusters toward the tip of the branches of the current season, tending to remain closed, rarely falling from the tree intact; scales thickened, thinner only toward the upturned point.

	Pinus ponderosa	Pinus albicaulis
Habitat	Mostly dry areas in open forests at low to middle elevations.	Generally near timberline, preferring south-facing slopes.
Distribution	Occurring mostly east of the Cascades crest in Washington; British Columbia to Baja California, east to the Great Plains. [WildflowerSearch map] [BONAP county map]	Occurring on both sides of the Cascades crest in Washington; British Columbia to California, east to Montana and Wyoming. [WildflowerSearch map] [BONAP county map]
Origin	Native	Native
Conservation status	Not of concern	Review Group 1 in Washington (WANHP)
Sibling taxa	P. albicaulis, P. contorta, P. monticola	P. contorta, P. monticola, P. ponderosa
Subordinate taxa	P. ponderosa var. ponderosa
Web links	Local floras: BC, CA, OR, WA Local Web sites: CalFlora, CalPhotos, Flora NW, PNW Herbaria WildflowerSearch iNaturalist (observations) USDA Plants Database LBJ Wildflower Center SEINet Plants of the World Online Encyclopedia of Life Wikipedia Google Image Search	Local floras: BC, CA, OR, WA Local Web sites: CalFlora, CalPhotos, Flora NW, PNW Herbaria WildflowerSearch iNaturalist (observations) USDA Plants Database LBJ Wildflower Center SEINet Plants of the World Online Encyclopedia of Life Wikipedia Google Image Search

Pinus albicaulis

bull pine, ponderosa pine, western yellow pine

white-bark pine

Habit

Large forest tree up to 70 m. tall.

Usually a dwarf and contorted alpine tree 5-15 m. tall.

Bark

Bark thick, that of younger trees deeply furrowed and dark reddish-brown or blackish, gradually changing to cinnamon-red in older trees, divided into large plates that freely flake off.

Bark thin with whitish scales that are brownish underneath; young twigs pubescent.

Leaves

Needles usually in clusters of 3 toward the branch ends, 12-20 cm. long, yellowish-green, on spur branches that are ultimately deciduous with the needles.

Leaves in bundles of 5, yellow-green, 4-7 cm. long, somewhat curved, on spur branches that are ultimately deciduous with the needles.

Cones

Staminate cones yellow to purplish, strongly clustered, crowded at the base of shoots of the current season; ovulate cones near the branch tips, reddish-purple when young, sub-sessile, nearly horizontal, becoming reddish-brown, then brown when mature, broadly ovate, 8-14 cm. long, the scales chocolate-brown, with a thickened, yellowish-brown, strongly prickly tip.

Staminate cones numerous, red, crowded at the base of shoots of the current season; ovulate cones ovoid, deep red to purple, 5-8 cm. long, single or in small clusters toward the tip of the branches of the current season, tending to remain closed, rarely falling from the tree intact;

scales thickened, thinner only toward the upturned point.