PINUS PONDEROSA 5 seeds "Western Yellow Pine"

PINUS PONDEROSA

5 seeds

"Western Yellow Pine"

Pinus ponderosa, commonly known as the Western Yellow or Ponderosa Pine is a large tree to 72m in height and with a trunk to 2.5m in diameter.A stately straight-growing tree, it develops a broadly conic to rounded crown. The bark is yellow to red-brown, deeply and irregularly furrowed and cross-checked into broadly rectangular, scaly plates. The branches are descending to spreading-ascending; twigs are rough and stout (to 2cm thick), orange-brown, aging to a darker orange-brown. Buds are ovoid, to 2cm, fully 1cm broad, red-brown and very resinous. Leaves are 2--5 per fascicle, spreading to erect, slightly twisted, tufted at twig tips and pliant in a deep yellow-green. Pollen cones are ellipsoid-cylindric, 1.5 to3.5cm in length and yellow or red. Seed cones are reddish-brown from 5 to 10 cm in length.Pinus ponderosa the most widely distributed and common pine in North America and the most economically important western yellow pine. It is a major timber tree. It grows at altitudes ranging from sea level to 3000 odd metres. As would be expected with a tree with such a wide distribution it can take a range of soils. Regardless of the location where ponderosa pine grows, average annual temperatures are between 5° and 10° C (41° and 50° F), and average July-August temperatures are between 17° and 21° C (62° and 70° F). Average frost-free seasons for ponderosa pine range from 90 to 154 days in eastern Montana and South Dakota (1,63) to more than 200 days in central California. Annual extremes are from -40° to 43° C (-40° to 110° F). As would be expected with a tree with such a wide distribution it can take a range of soils.

Ponderosa pine is a popular bonsai subject.