 | Pinus contorta subsp. latifolia (Engelmann) Critchfield 1957Common NamesLodgepole or doghair pine (2); black, spruce, prickly, jack or tamrac pine (3).Taxonomic notesSyn: Pinus contorta var. latifolia Engelmann 1871; P. tenuis Lemmon (6). There is genetic evidence that subsp. latifolia is separable into two populations, a southern one in the Rocky Mtns. south of the Pleistocene ice, and a northern one that survived in ice-free areas north of the main ice front in Canada (7, 8); these could possibly be distinct at varietal rank but no name has been given to the northern population.DescriptionTrees to 41 m tall and 80 cm dbh, mostly straight and evenly tapering, or near timberline reduced to shrub form by windblown ice; crown usually conic at maturity. Bark gray- to red-brown, not evidently furrowed, separating into loose plates. Branches mostly horizontally spreading, not ascending at tip. Leaves (4-)5-8 cm × 1.4-2.5 (-3) mm [1-2 (-3) mm in dry herbarium material], yellow-green, apex narrowly acute to short-acuminate. Seed cones maturing in 16-18 months, then shedding seeds or variously serotinous, long-persistent, strongly asymmetric, mostly recurved, seldom whorled, mostly in 2s or solitary, (2-) 2.5-5 (-5.5) cm long, orange-brown, mid and lower apophyses mostly much domed (4, 6).RangeRocky Mountains and various Intermountain ranges, including: USA: Alaska (marginally), E Washington, NE Oregon, Idaho, Montana, South Dakota, Colorado, Utah; Canada: SW Northwest Territories, Yukon, British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan. Found in montane and subalpine forests, often at upper or lower treeline, at elevations of 100-3500 m. Most stands establish after fire (2, 4).Big TreeHeight 41 m, dbh 111 cm, crown spread 12 m, located in Valley County, ID (5).OldestDendrochronologyEthnobotany"It is the most wide-ranging and commercially utilized variety [of lodgepole pine]. Its poor self-pruning character makes it less desirable for lumber but adequate for mine timbers, fences, and pulpwood" (4). USDA hardiness zone 3-4.ObservationsRemarks"Lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta var. latifolia) is the provincial tree of Alberta" (4).Citations(1) Silba 1986.(2) Elmore & Janish 1976. (3) Peattie 1950. (4) Robert Kral in Flora of North America online. (5) American Forests 1996. (6) W.B. Critchfield 1957. Geographic variation in Pinus contorta. Maria Moors Cabot Foundation (Harvard) Publ. 3. (7) N.C. Wheeler & R.P. Guries 1982. Biogeography of lodgepole pine. Canadian Journal of Botany 60: 1805-1814. (8) N.C. Wheeler & W.B. Critchfield 1985. The distribution and botanical characteristics of Lodgepole pine: Biogeographical and Management implications. Pp. 1-13 in D.M. Baumgartner (ed.). Lodgepole pine: the species and its management. Pullman, WA: Washington State University. See also Lanner 1983, MacKinnon et al. 1992, and the FEIS database. |
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