Lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta ssp. latifolia) Other WA subspecies: shore pine (ssp. contorta)
- Needles: clusters of 2; 2-3 inches long. Yellow-green, often twisted, and prickly at tip
- Buds: New growing tips are oval.
- Bark: On mature trees, red-brown to nearly black, covered with loosely attached scales.
- Cones: 1-2.5” inches long. Tips of cone scales have small prickles. Variable asymmetrical shape. Unopened closed cones remain for tree for several years. A percentage of cones termed “seratinous” as they remain closed, sealed in resin, awaiting a forest fire to trigger opening and seed dispersal over the newly burned, bare ground.
- Form: Tall, evenly tapering, long narrow crown. Often grows in dense stands.
- Unique identifier: Needles in clustered of 2; unopened cones remain on branches for years.
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- Photo provided/Susan Ballinger Our Washington native pine tree cones: Upper left, ponderosa pine; lower left, western white pine; upper right, lodgepole pine; lower right, remains of whitebark pine cones after either Clark’s nutcrackers or tree squirrels have removed the scales and harvested the seeds. Stone pines, such as whitebark, rely on a nutcracker to harvest and plant its seeds because the cones don’t open on their own.
