Pinus flexilis |
Pinus contorta |
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limber pine, pin blanc de l'ouest |
lodgepole pine, scrub pine, shore pine |
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Habit | Trees to 26m; trunk to 2m diam., straight to contorted; crown conic, becoming rounded. | Shrubs or trees to 50m; trunk to 0.9m diam., straight to contorted; crown various according to genetic race. | ||||||||
Bark | gray, nearly smooth, cross-checked in age into scaly plates and ridges. |
brown to gray- or red-brown, platy to furrowed. |
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Branches | spreading to ascending, often persistent to trunk base; twigs pale red-brown, puberulous (rarely glabrous), slightly resinous, aging gray, smooth. |
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Twigs | slender, orange to red-brown, aging darker brown, rough. |
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Buds | ovoid, light red-brown, 0.9–1cm, resinous; lower scales ciliolate along margins. |
narrowly to broadly ovoid, dark red-brown, to 1.2cm, slightly resinous. |
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Leaves | 5 per fascicle, spreading to upcurved and ascending, persisting 5–6 years, 3–7cm × 1–1.5mm, pliant, dark green, abaxial surface with less conspicuous stomatal bands than adaxial surfaces, adaxial surfaces with strong, pale stomatal bands, margins finely serrulate, apex conic-acute to acuminate; sheath 1–1.5(–2)cm, shed early. |
2 per fascicle, spreading or ascending, persisting 3–8 years, 2–8cm × 0.7–2(–3)mm, twisted, yellow-green to dark green, all surfaces with fine stomatal lines, margins finely serrulate, apex blunt to acute or narrowly acuminate; sheath 0.3–0.6(–1)cm, persistent. |
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Pollen cones | broadly ellipsoid-cylindric, ca. 15mm, pale red or yellow. |
ellipsoid to cylindric, 5–15mm, orange-red. |
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Seed(s) | cones maturing in 2 years, shedding seeds and falling soon thereafter, spreading, symmetric, lance-ovoid before opening, cylindro-ovoid when open, 7–15cm, straw-colored, resinous, sessile to short-stalked, apophyses much thickened, strongly cross-keeled, umbo terminal, depressed. |
cones maturing in 2 years or variably serotinous, variably persistent, spreading to reflexed, often curved, nearly symmetric or variably asymmetric, lanceoloid to ovoid before opening, broadly ovoid to nearly globose when open, 2–6cm, tan to pale red-brown, lustrous, nearly sessile or on stalks to 1cm; apophyses nearly rhombic, variously elongate, cross-keeled, often mammillate toward outer cone base and on inside above middle; umbo central, depressed-triangular, prickle barely elongate to stubby or slender and to 6mm. |
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Lower | branches often descending, the upper spreading or ascending. |
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2n | =24. |
=24 (variety not indicated). |
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Pinus flexilis |
Pinus contorta |
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Habitat | High montane forests, often at timberline | |||||||||
Elevation | (1000–)1500–3600m ((3300–)4900–11800ft) | |||||||||
Distribution |
AZ; CA; CO; ID; MT; ND; NE; NM; NV; OR; SD; UT; WY; AB; BC
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AK; CA; CO; ID; MT; NV; OR; SD; UT; WA; WY; AB; BC; NT; SK; YT; only in the flora
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Discussion | Pinus flexilis, much branched with a strongly tapering trunk, is little utilized because of its form and relative inaccessibility. It reportedly forms intermediates with P. strobiformis where the two overlap. The fresh-cut wood has the odor of turpentine. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Pinus contorta is fire successional over most of its range and is characterized by prolific seeding and high seed viability in disturbed habitats, often resulting in extremely slow-growing, overly dense stands. Some authors consider it to consist of 4 races; these have been given various infraspecific ranks, but perhaps they are more conventionally treated as 3 varieties. Varieties 3. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 2. | FNA vol. 2. | ||||||||
Parent taxa | Pinaceae > Pinus | Pinaceae > Pinus | ||||||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||||||
Synonyms | Apinus flexilis | |||||||||
Name authority | E. James: Account Exped. Pittsburgh 2: 27, 35. (1823) | Douglas ex Loudon: Arbor. Frutic. Brit. 4: 2292, figs. 2210, 2211. (1838) | ||||||||
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