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limber pine, pin blanc de l'ouest

lodgepole pine, scrub pine, shore pine

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.

Branches

spreading to ascending, often persistent to trunk base;

twigs pale red-brown, puberulous (rarely glabrous), slightly resinous, aging gray, smooth.

Twigs

slender, orange to red-brown, aging darker brown, rough.

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.

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.

Pollen cones

broadly ellipsoid-cylindric, ca. 15mm, pale red or yellow.

ellipsoid to cylindric, 5–15mm, orange-red.

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.

Lower

branches often descending, the upper spreading or ascending.

2n

=24.

=24 (variety not indicated).

Pinus flexilis

Pinus contorta

Habitat High montane forests, often at timberline
Elevation (1000–)1500–3600m ((3300–)4900–11800ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AZ; CA; CO; ID; MT; ND; NE; NM; NV; OR; SD; UT; WY; AB; BC
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AK; CA; CO; ID; MT; NV; OR; SD; UT; WA; WY; AB; BC; NT; SK; YT; only in the flora
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
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.)

Key
1. Leaves 2-7 cm × 0.7-0.9(-1.1) mm, dark green; mature trunk with bark evidently furrowed; seed cones strongly asymmetric, strongly recurved, persistent or variously serotinous.
var. contorta
1. Leaves (4-)5-8 cm × (0.7-)1-2(-3) mm, yellow-green; mature trunk with bark not evidently furrowed; seed cones asymmetric to nearly symmetric, recurved to spreading, variously serotinous or soon shed.
→ 2
2. Seed cones asymmetric, recurved, variously serotinous, long-persistent; mid and lower apophyses mostly much domed; main branches mostly horizontally spreading, not ascending at tip.
var. latifolia
2. Seed cones nearly symmetric, mostly spreading, not serotinous, not persistent; mid and lower apophyses mostly shallowly domed; main branches ascending at tips.
var. murrayana
Source FNA vol. 2. FNA vol. 2.
Parent taxa Pinaceae > Pinus Pinaceae > Pinus
Sibling taxa
P. albicaulis, P. aristata, P. attenuata, P. balfouriana, P. banksiana, P. cembroides, P. clausa, P. contorta, P. coulteri, P. echinata, P. edulis, P. elliottii, P. engelmannii, P. glabra, P. jeffreyi, P. lambertiana, P. leiophylla, P. longaeva, P. monophylla, P. monticola, P. muricata, P. palustris, P. ponderosa, P. pungens, P. quadrifolia, P. radiata, P. resinosa, P. rigida, P. sabiniana, P. serotina, P. strobiformis, P. strobus, P. sylvestris, P. taeda, P. torreyana, P. virginiana, P. washoensis
P. albicaulis, P. aristata, P. attenuata, P. balfouriana, P. banksiana, P. cembroides, P. clausa, P. coulteri, P. echinata, P. edulis, P. elliottii, P. engelmannii, P. flexilis, P. glabra, P. jeffreyi, P. lambertiana, P. leiophylla, P. longaeva, P. monophylla, P. monticola, P. muricata, P. palustris, P. ponderosa, P. pungens, P. quadrifolia, P. radiata, P. resinosa, P. rigida, P. sabiniana, P. serotina, P. strobiformis, P. strobus, P. sylvestris, P. taeda, P. torreyana, P. virginiana, P. washoensis
Subordinate taxa
P. contorta var. contorta, P. contorta var. latifolia, P. contorta var. murrayana
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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