Burke: Pinus ponderosa vs. Pinus monticola

	Pinus ponderosa	Pinus monticola
	bull pine, ponderosa pine, western yellow pine	western white pine
Habit	Large forest tree up to 70 m. tall.	Medium-sized tree up to 40 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 very thin, at first gray and smooth, becoming checked into squarish, flaking scales, grayish where exposed, cinnamon-brown underneath.
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.	Needles in clusters of 5, light bluish-green, slender, 5-10 cm. long, obtuse, 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 clustered, yellow, under 1 cm. long, crowded at the base of shoots of the current season; ovulate cones at the tips of upper branches, greenish-yellow to purplish when young, short-stalked, pendent, 15-25 cm. long and 6-9 cm. thick, the scales thin, broadened upward and red to brown below the yellowish-brown, obtuse tip.

	Pinus ponderosa	Pinus monticola
Habitat	Mostly dry areas in open forests at low to middle elevations.	Moist valleys and drier slopes, near sea level to mid-elevations in the mountains
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 Alberta, Montana, and Nevada. [WildflowerSearch map] [BONAP county map]
Origin	Native	Native
Conservation status	Not of concern	Not of concern
Sibling taxa	P. albicaulis, P. contorta, P. monticola	P. albicaulis, P. contorta, 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 monticola

bull pine, ponderosa pine, western yellow pine

western white pine

Habit

Large forest tree up to 70 m. tall.

Medium-sized tree up to 40 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 very thin, at first gray and smooth, becoming checked into squarish, flaking scales, grayish where exposed, cinnamon-brown underneath.

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.

Needles in clusters of 5, light bluish-green, slender, 5-10 cm. long, obtuse, 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 clustered, yellow, under 1 cm. long, crowded at the base of shoots of the current season; ovulate cones at the tips of upper branches, greenish-yellow to purplish when young, short-stalked, pendent, 15-25 cm. long and 6-9 cm. thick, the scales thin, broadened upward and red to brown below the yellowish-brown, obtuse tip.