The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
enable glossary links

Norway pine, pin rouge, red pine

sugar pine

Habit Trees to 37m; trunk to 1.5m diam., straight; crown narrowly rounded. Trees to 75m; trunk to 3.3m diam., massive, straight; crown narrowly conic, becoming rounded.
Bark

light red-brown, furrowed and cross-checked into irregularly rectangular, scaly plates.

cinnamon- to gray-brown, deeply furrowed, plates long, scaly.

Branches

spreading-ascending;

twigs moderately slender (to 1cm thick), orange- to red-brown, aging darker brown, rough.

spreading, distal branches ascending;

twigs gray-green to red-tan, aging gray, mostly puberulent.

Buds

ovoid-acuminate, red-brown, to ca. 2cm, resinous;

scale margins fringed.

cylindro-ovoid, red-brown, to 0.8cm, resinous.

Leaves

2 per fascicle, straight or slightly twisted, brittle, breaking cleanly when bent, deep yellow-green, all surfaces with narrow stomatal bands, margins serrulate, apex short-conic, acute;

sheath 1–2.5cm, base persistent.

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.

Pollen cones

ellipsoid, ca. 15mm, dark purple.

ellipsoid-cylindric, to 15mm, yellow.

Seed(s)

cones maturing and opening in 2 years, spreading, symmetric, ovoid before opening, broadly ovoid to nearly globose when open, 3.5–6cm, light red-brown, nearly sessile;

apophyses slightly thickened, slightly raised, transversely low-keeled;

umbo central, centrally depressed, unarmed.

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.

2n

=24.

=24.

Pinus resinosa

Pinus lambertiana

Habitat Sandy soils, eastern boreal forests Montane dry to moist forests
Elevation 200–800(–1300)m (700–2600(–4300)ft) 330–3200m (1100–10500ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CT; IL; MA; ME; MI; MN; NH; NJ; NY; PA; VT; WI; WV; MB; NB; NF; NS; ON; PE; QC
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
CA; NV; OR; Mexico in n Baja California
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Pinus resinosa was once the most important timber pine in the Great Lakes region.

Norway pine (Pinus resinosa) is the state tree of Minnesota.

(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.)

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. 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. 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. contorta, P. coulteri, P. echinata, P. edulis, P. elliottii, P. engelmannii, P. flexilis, P. glabra, P. jeffreyi, 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
Name authority Aiton: Hort. Kew. 3: 367. (1789) Douglas: Trans. Linn. Soc. London, Bot. 15: 500. (1827)
Web links