Lodgepole Pine,
Pinus contorta, also known as
Shore Pine, is a common
treeA tree is a perennial woody plant. It is most often defined as a woody plant that has many secondary branches supported clear of the ground on a single main stem or trunk with clear apical dominance. A minimum height specification at maturity is cited by some authors, varying from 3 m to...
in western
North AmericaNorth America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
. Like all
pinePines are trees in the genus Pinus ,in the family Pinaceae. They make up the monotypic subfamily Pinoideae. There are about 115 species of pine, although different authorities accept between 105 and 125 species.-Etymology:...
s, it is
evergreenIn botany, an evergreen plant is a plant that has leaves in all seasons. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which completely lose their foliage during the winter or dry season.There are many different kinds of evergreen plants, both trees and shrubs...
.
Subspecies
There are three
subspeciesSubspecies in biological classification, is either a taxonomic rank subordinate to species, ora taxonomic unit in that rank . A subspecies cannot be recognized in isolation: a species will either be recognized as having no subspecies at all or two or more, never just one...
of
Pinus contorta, one of them with two varieties. All the four taxa are sometimes treated at the rank of variety.
- Pinus contorta subsp. contorta (Shore Pine) – Pacific Coast, southern Alaska
Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...
to CaliforniaCalifornia is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
- Pinus contorta subsp. contorta var. contorta (Shore Pine; syn. P. contorta var. contorta) – Pacific Coast, Alaska to northwest California
- Pinus contorta subsp. contorta var. bolanderi ( Mendocino Shore Pine; syn. P. contorta var. bolanderi) – endemic to Mendocino
Mendocino County is a county located on the north coast of the U.S. state of California, north of the greater San Francisco Bay Area and west of the Central Valley. As of the 2010 census, the population was 87,841, up from 86,265 at the 2000 census...
, California Coast (Near ThreatenedNear Threatened is a conservation status assigned to species or lower taxa that may be considered threatened with extinction in the near future, although it does not currently qualify for the threatened status...
by fires, development and overland vehicles.)
- Pinus contorta subsp. murrayana (Tamarack Pine or Sierra Lodgepole Pine; syn. P. contorta var. murrayana) – Cascade Range
The Cascade Range is a major mountain range of western North America, extending from southern British Columbia through Washington and Oregon to Northern California. It includes both non-volcanic mountains, such as the North Cascades, and the notable volcanoes known as the High Cascades...
, Sierra Nevada and adjacent mountain ranges, Washington south to the San Bernardino MountainsThe San Bernardino Mountains are a short transverse mountain range north and east of San Bernardino in Southern California in the United States. The mountains run for approximately 60 miles east-west on the southern edge of the Mojave Desert in southwestern San Bernardino County, north of the...
and Transverse RangesThe Transverse Ranges are a group of mountain ranges of southern California, in the Pacific Coast Ranges physiographic region that runs along the Pacific coast from Alaska to Mexico in North America. The Transverse Ranges begin at the southern end of the California Coast Ranges and lie between...
of Southern CaliforniaSouthern California is a megaregion, or megapolitan area, in the southern area of the U.S. state of California. Large urban areas include Greater Los Angeles and Greater San Diego. The urban area stretches along the coast from Ventura through the Southland and Inland Empire to San Diego...
, Spring MountainsThe Spring Mountains are a mountain range of southern Nevada in the United States, running generally northwest-southeast along the west side of Las Vegas and down to the border with California...
in NevadaNevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...
, and into northern Baja CaliforniaBaja California officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is both the northernmost and westernmost state of Mexico. Before becoming a state in 1953, the area was known as the North...
Peninsular RangesThe Peninsular Ranges are a group of mountain ranges, in the Pacific Coast Ranges, which stretch from southern California in the United States to the southern tip of Mexico's Baja California peninsula; they are part of the North American Coast Ranges that run along the Pacific coast from Alaska...
.
- Pinus contorta subsp. latifolia (Lodgepole Pine; syn. P. contorta var. latifolia) – Rocky Mountains
The Rocky Mountains are a major mountain range in western North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch more than from the northernmost part of British Columbia, in western Canada, to New Mexico, in the southwestern United States...
, YukonYukon is the westernmost and smallest of Canada's three federal territories. It was named after the Yukon River. The word Yukon means "Great River" in Gwich’in....
to ColoradoColorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
, SaskatchewanSaskatchewan is a prairie province in Canada, which has an area of . Saskatchewan is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dakota....
Aspen parkland and boreal forest.
Description
Depending on subspecies, the Lodgepole Pine grows as an evergreen shrub or tree. The shrub form is
krummholzKrummholz or Krumholtz formation — also called Knieholz — is a particular feature of subarctic and subalpine tree line landscapes. Continual exposure to fierce, freezing winds causes vegetation to become stunted and deformed...
and is approximately 1 to 3 m (3.3 to 9.8 ft) high. The thin and narrow-crowned tree is 40 to 50 m (131.2 to 164 ft) high and can achieve up to 2 metres (6.6 ft) diameter at chest height. The
murrayana subspecies is the tallest. The
crownThe crown of a plant refers to the totality of the plant's aboveground parts, including stems, leaves, and reproductive structures. A plant canopy consists of one or more plant crowns growing in a given area....
is rounded and the top of the tree is flattened. In dense forests, the trees a slim, conical crown. The formation of twin trees is common in some populations in British Columbia. The elastic branches stand upright or overhang and are difficult to break. The branches are covered with short shoots that are easy to remove.
The species name
contorta arises from the twisted, bent pines found in the coastal area.
Pinus contorta is occasionally known under several English names: Black Pine, Scrub Pine, and Coast Pine.
P. contorta subsp.
latifolia will hybridise with the closely related
Jack Pine - Pinus banksianaJack pine is a North American pine with its native range in Canada east of the Rocky Mountains from Northwest Territories to Nova Scotia, and the northeast of the United States from Minnesota to Maine, with the southernmost part of the range just into northwest Indiana...
.
Needles and buds
The egg-shaped
growth budIn botany, a bud is an undeveloped or embryonic shoot and normally occurs in the axil of a leaf or at the tip of the stem. Once formed, a bud may remain for some time in a dormant condition, or it may form a shoot immediately. Buds may be specialized to develop flowers or short shoots, or may have...
s are reddish-brown and between 20 and 30 mm (0.78740157480315 and 1.2 in) long. They are short pointed, slightly rotated and very resinous. Spring growth starts in beginning of April and the annual growth is completed by early July. The dark and mostly shiny needles are pointed and 4 to 8 cm (1.6 to 3.1 in) long and 0.9 to 2 mm (0.0354330708661417 to 0.078740157480315 in) wide. The needle edge is weak to clearly serrated. The needles are in pairs on
short shootsIn botany, a fascicle is a bundle of leaves or flowers, or of the vascular tissues that supply these organs with nutrients...
and rotated about the shoots' longitudinal axes. In
AlbertaAlberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...
above 2000 metres (6,561.7 ft), 1 to 5 needles occur per short shoot. A population with a high proportion of three-needled short shoots occurs in the
YukonYukon is the westernmost and smallest of Canada's three federal territories. It was named after the Yukon River. The word Yukon means "Great River" in Gwich’in....
. Needles live an average of four to six years, with a maximum of 13 years.
Cones
The 3–7 cm
conesA cone is an organ on plants in the division Pinophyta that contains the reproductive structures. The familiar woody cone is the female cone, which produces seeds. The male cones, which produce pollen, are usually herbaceous and much less conspicuous even at full maturity...
often need exposure to high temperatures (such as from forest fires) in order to open and release their seeds, though in subsp.
murrayana they open as soon as they are mature. The cones have prickles on the scales.
Ecology
The lodgepole is a fire adapted tree. The bark of the lodgepole pine is fairly thin, minimizing the defense the tree has to fire. The way that these stands regenerate is so densely populated that they self thin, or out compete, each other leaving dead trees in the stand. These dead trees often fall and become a dry ladder fuel to accelerate the fire to the crown of the tree. When the fire reaches the crowns of the trees, it can jump from tree to tree and becomes relatively unstoppable. These stand replacing fires are what the lodgepole pine relies on to be able to regenerate in the post burn area
The
Pinus contorta as a species is a very dependent on fire as a mode of replacing itself. The fire regime for this species is primarily driven by climate. The fires occur most often after years of drought. Lodgepole Pine occurs from the upper montane to the subalpine region. These types of forests experience a lot of moisture in the form of snow in the winter due to their altitude. The density of the tree stand also prohibits the establishment of an understory. With all of that being said, the likelihood of a surface fire occurring are rare. Thus, infrequent, high severity fires dominate this species.
An example of the climate that plays a huge role in the fire regime of the lodgepole pine is quite complex. There are three different oscillations that play a major role in droughts. These are the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO), Atlantic Multi-decadal Oscillation and El Nino. A combination of these oscillation being in effect (+) or not in effect (-) have a global effect on the water available to these forests. So when the AMO +, ENSO – and PDO -, there is going to be a drought and likely a severe subalpine fire.
Suillus tomentosusSuillus tomentosus is a species of mushroom. The common names of the species are Blue-staining Slippery Jack, Poor Man's Slippery Jack, and Woolly-capped Suillus.-Description:...
, a fungus, produces specialized structures, known as tuberculate ectomycorrhizae, with the roots of lodgepole pine (
Pinus contorta var.
latifolia). These structures have in turn been shown to host
nitrogen fixingNitrogen fixation is the natural process, either biological or abiotic, by which nitrogen in the atmosphere is converted into ammonia . This process is essential for life because fixed nitrogen is required to biosynthesize the basic building blocks of life, e.g., nucleotides for DNA and RNA and...
bacteriaBacteria are a large domain of prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria have a wide range of shapes, ranging from spheres to rods and spirals...
which contribute a significant amount of
nitrogenNitrogen is a chemical element that has the symbol N, atomic number of 7 and atomic mass 14.00674 u. Elemental nitrogen is a colorless, odorless, tasteless, and mostly inert diatomic gas at standard conditions, constituting 78.08% by volume of Earth's atmosphere...
and allow the pines to colonize nutrient-poor sites.
Threats
Blue stain fungusThe blue stain fungus, Grosmannia clavigera, is a species of sac fungus. It spreads to Lodgepole pine, Ponderosa pine, Douglas-fir, and Whitebark pine trees from the body and a special structure in the heads of Mountain Pine Beetles...
,
Grosmannia clavigera, attacks this species from the mouth of the
Mountain Pine BeetleThe mountain pine beetle Dendroctonus ponderosae, is a species of bark beetle native to the forests of western North America from Mexico to central British Columbia. It has a hard black exoskeleton, and measures about 5 millimeters, about the size of a grain of rice.Mountain pine beetles inhabit...
.
A study in 2011 suggests that by the late 21st century,
P. contorta could experience significant reductions to its range due to climate change.
As an invasive species
Pinus contorta is a serious invasive species
wilding coniferWilding conifers, also known as wilding pines, are invasive tree species in the high country of New Zealand. Millions of dollars is spent on controlling their spread....
, along with several other western North American pine species, in
New ZealandNew Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
. It is listed on the
National Pest Plant AccordThe National Pest Plant Accord identifies pest plants that are prohibited from sale and commercial propagation and distribution across New Zealand....
and is prohibited from sale, commercial propagation and distribution.
Uses
Tepees
Lodgepole pine is named for its common use in the
Native AmericanNative Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
tepee lodge. A typical tepee is constructed with 15-18 lodgepole pines. The long, straight, and lightweight characteristics of the species made it ideal for horse transport in nomadic buffalo hunting cultures. Tribes made long journeys across the plains to secure lodgepole pines that only grew in mountainous areas. In Minnesota, other species such as red pine would be used in tepees, though they were generally thicker, heavier, and more cumbersone to transport than lodgepole pine.
Many people still use lodgepole pine today for erecting tepees at private homes, on Native American reservations, or powwows. The pines may be harvested for tepee poles on National Forests, provided the harvester secures a permit to cut lives trees for ceremonial or traditional purposes. The Bighorn Mountains, the
Black HillsThe Black Hills are a small, isolated mountain range rising from the Great Plains of North America in western South Dakota and extending into Wyoming, USA. Set off from the main body of the Rocky Mountains, the region is something of a geological anomaly—accurately described as an "island of...
, and the
Snowy Range of WyomingThe Medicine Bow Mountains are a mountain range in the Rocky Mountains that extend for from northern Colorado into southern Wyoming. The northern extent of this range is the sub-range the Snowy Range...
are popular tepee pole harvesting areas for tepee enthusiasts and Native Americans living on plains reservations in North and South Dakota.
The
Pinus contorta has been planted extensively in
NorwayNorway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
and
SwedenSweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
for use in
forestryForestry is the interdisciplinary profession embracing the science, art, and craft of creating, managing, using, and conserving forests and associated resources in a sustainable manner to meet desired goals, needs, and values for human benefit. Forestry is practiced in plantations and natural stands...
.
Cultivation
The
horticultureHorticulture is the industry and science of plant cultivation including the process of preparing soil for the planting of seeds, tubers, or cuttings. Horticulturists work and conduct research in the disciplines of plant propagation and cultivation, crop production, plant breeding and genetic...
industry grows
Pinus contorta subsp.
contorta and
P. contorta subsp.
murrayana for gardens and
native plantNative plant is a term to describe plants endemic or naturalized to a given area in geologic time.This includes plants that have developed, occur naturally, or existed for many years in an area...
s landscapes. The ssp.
contorta Shore Pine's smaller selections are also used in 'large bonsai' specimens and container gardening.
Emblem
Lodgepole Pine is the Provincial tree of
AlbertaAlberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...
,
CanadaCanada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
.
External links