Tuesday, September 19, 2017

Pinus Contorta – Lodgepole Pine

General Information
Common Name Lodgepole Pine
Scientific Name Pinus Contorta
Sun Tolerance Full Sun
Height 40-50  m (130-160 ft)
Spread 15 - 30 m (50 - 100 ft)
Growth Rate Fast
Bloom Time Spring
Color Green,
Flower Color Gold
Type Tree
Native USA, Asia, Europe.
Classification
Kingdom Plantae – Plants
Subkingdom Tracheobionta – Vascular plants
SuperdivisionSpermatophyta – Seed plants
Division Coniferophyta – Conifers
Class Pinopsida
Subclass 
Order Pinales
Family Pinaceae – Pine family
Genus Pinus –  Pine
Species P. contorata


Pinus Contorta commonly known as Lodgepole Pine is native to North America. It’s a two-needled conifer. The name ‘Lodgepole’ is derived from its use by Indians as poles to support their wigwams or lodges.
Pinus Contorta – Lodgepole Pine
The twigs are orange-brown to black wrinkled when young. The long buds are cylindrical, resinous and blunt. The young shoots stand upright in May and June like emerald candles. The needles are stiff and in pairs, bound together at their base by a sheath consisting of membranous scales.
They are of similar length about 2-5 cm to those of Scots Pine but are stouter slightly twisted and yellowish-green or mid-green. The foliage tends to be dense with much overlapping of needles in trees of American costal provenances.
The flowers of both sexes are found on the same tree and they are produced from the second year of life. The males are rather dense clusters of yellow to orange globules and the females (terminal on new shoots) are small and crimson, soon becoming reddish-purple, plum-colored and spiky cone-lets. The cones on inland and northern provenances of Lodgepole Pine are often at a node two-third of the way up the year’s shoot; but the coastal provenances are rarely bi-nodal in growth. The cone points down the shoot, is somewhat egg-shaped, about 4 cm in length and the raised portion of each scale (the umbo) bears a small sharp prickle.
The bark is rather odd, being a dull brownish-black and broken into small squarish plates divided by shallow furrows, or closely scaly. The heartwood is a pale straw color and there is very little contrast between heartwood and sapwood. The timber has proved a satisfactory alternative to Scots Pine for roofing, flooring, interior framing, and other joinery. Thinnings are used for paper pulp, chipboard, poles and pit-props.

In the last twenty years Lodgepole Pine has been planted on an ever-increasing scale in Scotland and North Wales because of its remarkable tolerance of poor soils, including the peaty moorlands of the wetter and cloudier western districts. Under comparable conditions it grows significantly faster than does Scots Pine and leading shoots of 5 feet may be seen.


Pinus Contorta – Lodgepole Pine


Leaves of Lodgepole Pine

Lodgepole Pine Leaves

Male cone of Lodgepole Pine

 Lodgepole Pine Male Cone

Female cone of Lodgepole Pine

Lodgepole Pine Female Cone

Pinus Contorta – Lodgepole Pine Cones

Bark of Lodgepole Pine

Pinus Contorta – Lodgepole Pine Young Plant

Lodgepole Pine Young Plant

Lodgepole Pine Forest

Pinus Contorta – Lodgepole Pine

Pinus Contorta – Lodgepole Pine

Pinus Contorta – Lodgepole Pine

Pinus Contorta – Lodgepole Pine

Pinus Contorta – Lodgepole Pine

Pinus Contorta – Lodgepole Pine

Pinus Contorta – Lodgepole Pine