Pinus flexilis
Pinus lambertiana
limber pine, pin blanc de l'ouest
sugar pine
gray, nearly smooth, cross-checked in age into scaly plates and ridges.
cinnamon- to gray-brown, deeply furrowed, plates long, scaly.
spreading to ascending, often persistent to trunk base;
twigs pale red-brown, puberulous (rarely glabrous), slightly resinous, aging gray, smooth.
spreading, distal branches ascending;
twigs gray-green to red-tan, aging gray, mostly puberulent.
ovoid, light red-brown, 0.9–1cm, resinous;
lower scales ciliolate along margins.
cylindro-ovoid, red-brown, to 0.8cm, resinous.
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.
5 per fascicle, spreading to ascending, persisting 2–4 years, 5–10cm × (0.9–)1–1.5(–2)mm, straight, slightly twisted, pliant, blue-green, abaxial surface with only a few lines evident, adaxial surfaces with evident white stomatal lines, margins finely serrulate, apex acuminate;
sheath (1–)1.5–2cm, shed early.
broadly ellipsoid-cylindric, ca. 15mm, pale red or yellow.
ellipsoid-cylindric, to 15mm, yellow.
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, shedding seeds and falling soon thereafter, often clustered, pendent, symmetric, cylindric before opening, lance-cylindric to ellipsoid-cylindric when open, 25–50cm, yellow-brown, stalks 6–15cm;
apophyses somewhat thickened;
umbo terminal, depressed, resinous, slightly excurved.
=24.
=24.
Pinus flexilis
Pinus lambertiana
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.)
The largest species of the genus, Pinus lambertiana also has the longest seed cone in the genus. It is an important timber tree with harvest far exceeding regrowth. It is easily distinguished from P. monticola and P. strobus by its larger cones and thicker cone scales with larger seeds; it is somewhat less reliably distinguished by its leaves, which are slightly wider and more tapering-tipped and have some stomatal lines evident on the abaxial surfaces (the lines not evident in P. monticola and P. strobus). A "sugary" resin high in cyclitols exudes from the sweet-scented fresh-cut wood.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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