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

pin rigide, pitch pine

lodgepole pine, scrub pine, shore pine

Habit Trees to 31m; trunk to 0.9m diam., straight or crooked, commonly with adventitious sprouts; crown rounded or irregular. Shrubs or trees to 50m; trunk to 0.9m diam., straight to contorted; crown various according to genetic race.
Bark

red-brown, deeply and irregularly furrowed, with long, irregularly rectangular, flat, scaly ridges, resin pockets absent.

brown to gray- or red-brown, platy to furrowed.

Branches

arching-spreading to ascending, poorly self-pruning; 2-year-old branchlets stout (mostly over 5mm thick), orange-brown, aging darker brown, rough.

Twigs

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

Buds

ovoid to ovoid-cylindric, red-brown, ca. 1–1.5cm, resinous;

scale margins fringed, apex cuspidate.

narrowly to broadly ovoid, dark red-brown, to 1.2cm, slightly resinous.

Leaves

3(–5) per fascicle, spreading to ascending, persisting 2–3 years, 5–10(–15)cm × 1–1.5(–2)mm, straight, twisted, deep to pale yellow-green, all surfaces with fine stomatal lines, margins serrulate, apex abruptly subulate-acuminate;

sheath 0.9–1.2cm, base persistent.

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

cylindric, ca. 20mm, yellow.

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

Seed(s)

cones maturing in 2 years, shedding seeds soon thereafter or variously serotinous and long-persistent, often clustered, symmetric, conic to ovoid before opening, broadly ovoid with flat or slightly convex base when open, 3–9cm, creamy brown to light red-brown, sessile to short-stalked, base truncate, scales firm, with dark red-brown border on adaxial surface distally;

apophyses slightly raised, rhombic, with strong transverse keels;

umbo central, low-triangular, with slender, downcurved prickle.

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 rigida

Pinus contorta

Habitat Upland or lowland, sterile, dry to boggy soils
Elevation 0–1400m (0–4600ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CT; DE; GA; KY; MA; MD; ME; NC; NH; NJ; NY; OH; PA; RI; SC; TN; VA; VT; WV; ON; QC
[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 rigida often has poor form and is not valued highly as saw timber. It is fire successional, sprouts adventitiously, and is frequently shrubby in the northern part of its range. It is known to hybridize naturally with P. echinata.

(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. 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. 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
Name authority Miller: Gard. Dict., ed. 8 Pinus no. 10. (1768) Douglas ex Loudon: Arbor. Frutic. Brit. 4: 2292, figs. 2210, 2211. (1838)
Web links