Gymnosperm Database – What Tree Where

Austrian Pine-The Salvation of the Dust Bowl?

222 million Austrian pines were planted across the Great Plains

Austrian pine (Pinus nigra) was introduced to North America in 1759. This two- needled evergreen, also called European black pine and common black pine, is native to Europe and Asia.

Quite possibly this species should hold a place of honor in American history. Due to its heartiness, wind tolerance, and ability to grow in poor soil, during the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration the U.S. Forest Service was tasked with planting 222 million trees across the Great Plains to combat the effects of the Dust Bowl. As the Arbor Day Foundation reports, these trees have thrived for more than 75 years in some of the poorest planting conditions in our country. Although this conifer is now susceptible to many more diseases and pests, according to The Tree Book* it is an inexpensive tree which is often planted in areas too small for its eventual size.

The Wood Database says Austrian pine is easy to work with but its primary use has been as pulp for the paper industry. It may also be used for boxes and crates. Like most pines, its resin has many medicinal uses, including fighting respiratory ailments, kidney problems, and for poultices, plasters, and steam baths.

P3310036 — The bark and branches of the Austrian pine

According to The Christmas Tree Growers Association of New York, the tradition of a Christmas tree originated in Germany and became popularized in England when Queen Victoria and Prince Albert had a tree placed in Windsor Castle. At one time Austrian pines were used as holiday trees in the U.S. Their usage has fallen out of favor, possibly because of the shearing needed for a perfect shape. Its branches don’t fill in until the trees are at least ten years old and it develops more slowly than the Scotch pine. Smaller homes than those of the 1800 and early 1900s might also have caused the large pine to fall out of favor. Its spaced and heavy branches were useful for those with large ornaments and lots of room. Still, at least thirteen Christmas tree farms list Austrian pine as one of their selections. Although only moderately fragrant, the trees hold their needles well. The main drawback from the growers’ perspective might be the trees aren’t as resistant to pests as other species and may be more difficult to ship.

The tallest Austrian pine, over 155’tall, grows in Montenegro, while the oldest, in Austria, is thought to be around 1000 years of age. In the U.S. the Champion tree grows in Washington state. In Colorado, the overall largest tree is found in Greeley. Its height is half of the world champion.

To find 154 Austrian Pine (Pinus nigra) in City Park, look along Jackson Street where Magnolia Street intersects. If Magnolia went through the park, it would cross a small cluster of conifers. Of the three trees, the large tree with more of a rounded top should be the Austrian pine. p3310016-1

*The Tree Book: Superior Selections for Landscapes, Streetscapes, and Gardens. Dirr, Michael A. and Warren, Keith S., Timber Press, 2019

Is Your Brain Better than a Bark Beetle’s? Are You Able to distinguish the Jeffrey Pine from a Ponderosa?

The Jeffrey pine was named after a Scottish botanist in 1852

Jeffrey pines (Pinus jeffreyi) are native to Nevada, California, and Oregon. Ponderosa and Jeffrey pine are easily confused and their lumber is often bundled with that of lodgepole pine and sold as PP/LP. Although first regarded as the same species as Ponderosa pine, they vary genetically. The tree was named after the Scottish botanist John Jeffrey in 1852. Apparently Mr. Jeffrey disappeared without a trace while searching for plants.

Two ways to distinguish the two species is by bark color and smell. Ponderosas are said to have an orange tinge while the bark of the Jeffrey is reddish. Some say Ponderosas smell like pine while its look-alike has an odor described as vanilla, pineapple, or butterscotch!

Another way to tell Jeffrey and Ponderosa apart is by the size of the cone, with Jeffrey cones usually larger. Plants of Southern California (Strong, Tom and Chester, Jane) include several charts for comparison, as well as this thought: If bark beetles, with brains smaller than your thumbnail, can tell the difference between ponderosa and Jeffrey pines, with a little attention humans ought to be able to do the same. (:-) Numerous sites warn of a dangerous difference between the two conifers. The resin of most pine trees can be used to make turpentine. Alike other conifers, Jeffrey pines contain an explosive chemical, n-heptane. Before the two trees were known to be separate species, the use of Jeffrey pine ended up causing inexplicable explosions.

P3310019 — The long needles of the Jeffrey pine.

The Gymnosperm Database lists a Jeffrey pine in California as being at least 813 years old. The tallest tree, found in Dec. 2010 in the Trinity Alps of California, is over 206 feet tall. The second tallest Pinus jeffreyi is also located in California.

Jeffrey pines produce winged seeds. The seeds are heavy, and although wind does move them, it usually isn’t far from the parent tree. Chipmunks and Clarks Nutcrackers also disperse the seeds. The US Forest Service reported a small study of the chipmunks. These little critters on average carried up to 29 seeds in their cheek pouches. This same site reported cones might not be produced by the species until trees are twenty years old.

The Jeffrey Pine (Pinus jeffreyi) specimen tagged in City Park was planted in 1996 with a trunk diameter of 5″. We were not able to locate any pinecones to photograph. This bud from April, though, is of interest.

To find the tagged Jeffrey pine on the tree tour, start at the SE corner of the park. If you walk straight across Jackson from Magnolia, you will head in the correct direction. You might first encounter the alligator juniper tree, which is East of a group of taller pines. One of these is the Jeffrey pine C153.

Ponderosa Pine—Or maybe you call it Bull Pine, Black Jack, Western Yellow Pine, or One of Many Other Names

Three subspecies have been identified through-mitochondrial DNA.

What a surprise! The ponderosa pine is one of the first trees with a distribution in most of the WESTERN part of the US and part of Canada! According to National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Trees (Western Region,1980) this is the most widely distributed pine in the United States. Its range includes British Columbia. In Colorado the species covers about 2 million acres. The Colorado State Forest Service website, also says this is about 8 % of the forested area of the state. Ackerman mentions the tree grows from about 4600-9600 elevation. (Flora of Colorado, 2015.)

Like many of the other trees discussed in this blog, the ponderosa pine appears to be a complex species. Even its “discovery” may be controversial with some sources citing 1820 and others mentioning 1805 passages from Lewis & Clark Expedition. According to the Gymnosperm Database, three subspecies have been determined through mitochondrial DNA. The three varieties appear to have geographic distinctions, too. The groupings include the northernmost trees, Pacific trees, and the more interior trees. Chris Earle, the author of conifers.org, indicates there does not seem to be interbreeding where the northern family shares habitat with the Pacific group.

This species are normally tall, straight trees with the trunk free of lower branches. OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

The Ponderosa pine is one of the three highest producing lumber species in the western United States. Its wood is used for everything from veneer to construction. Apparently the trunks were sometimes used as flagpoles as at least one story of the origin of the name Flagstaff in Arizona, involves a ponderosa pine displaying the US flag.

The ponderosa pine provided Native Americans with food, medicine, and transportation in the form of canoes or snowshoes, as well as construction material and dyes. Almost the entire plant could be eaten. The many medicinal uses included the usual ointment for infections, skin conditions, and pain control. A less commonly mentioned use of tree parts in medicine was needles being tools for dermatological and gynecological reasons. The rosin left over after turpentine distillation is used on violin bows.

Male seed cones on Ponderosa pine

Female cones on Ponderosa pine with male cones in the background

Monumental Trees lists the oldest ponderosa, located in Yosemite, to be more than 1020, although a 1914 record of a tree in southwest Colorado was measured at 1047 years. As might be expected for a tree that is only native to North America, the United States also has the widest and tallest trees. The record for height is a tree in Oregon measured to be over 268 feet tall.

At least four species of Ips beetle can infect ponderosa pines. These beetles normally attack dying or stressed trees, but when there are excess beetles they may attack and kill healthy trees. For the eighteen years from 1996 to 2014, the mountain pine beetle damaged over 3 million acres of trees in Colorado alone. Although these beetles have always destroyed some trees, according to the National Park Service recent outbreaks had become more severe. According to the Colorado State Forest, though, the problem may have begun to abate in 2017. In the past, long term cold snaps killed off many of the noxious beetles, but with warmer winters, good forestry management techniques must be employed, including thinning of trees, and solar treatment of logs from downed trees to help control the destructive insects. With climate change, the forests of the West, as well as the rest of the world, may be changing.

The Ponderosa pines on the Fort Collins Self-guided Tree Tour are easy to find. They still sport the rustic signs first used to identify the trees.

To find C152 Ponderosa Pine (Pinus ponderosa), drive to the west end of Oak Street, just east of the intersection with Bryan Street. The trees are in front of the pottery studio.

Southwestern White Pine–Food for Bears?

Pinecones aren’t always helpful in identification, especially when they are missing or misplaced.

I put off a post about the southwestern white pine, Pinus strobiformis, until after Christmas because I figured it wouldn’t be of much use as a holiday tree. To my surprise, a site from Kansas identified it as such. The Covered Bridge Ranch in Montrose, Colorado also included it on a chart of its trees for sale for holiday decoration.

p1090005 — The needles of a southwestern white pine

This variety of conifer has five needles growing per fascicle and each leaf may grow up to four inches in length.

Pinus strobiformis is found in the southwestern states of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and the southwest/south central counties of Colorado (Ackerman, Jennifer, Flora of Colorado) where it may grow up to 9000 feet in elevation. Like many other trees it has other common names such as pino enamo, border pine, and Mexican pine (North American Trees, Preston and Braham, 5th edition.)

p1090012 — The branches and bark of the southwestern white pine

According to the US Forest Service, although used for window frames and some cabinetry, this species is not valuable as lumber due to its tendency toward crooked growth. It is sometimes grown for its ornamental value, and some dwarf versions are available.

The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center lists this species as having large seeds, which have served as food for both wildlife and southwestern tribes. At least one paper reports the seeds are a food for black bears. Practical Plants likens the seeds to piñon nuts with a harder shell. This website also mentions a vanilla flavoring agent from the resin. Like most other pines, the resins and other parts of the plant have been used as disinfectants and medicinally for many conditions.

The Gymnosperm Database lists the largest tree in the US as being in the Lincoln National Forest of New Mexico. This tree has a circumference of nearly five feet, is a bit over 111 feet tall, and has a crown spread of 62 feet. The oldest tree is also in New Mexico but is part of the San Mateo mountains. In 2006 it was said to be 599 years old. The tallest specimen, though, is in the San Juan Forest of Colorado. In 2014 it was measured as being nearly 128 feet tall.

To find C173 Southwestern White Pine (Pinus strobiformis) in Fort Collins City Park, start near the corner of Mulberry Street and Sheldon Drive. This specimen is on the east side of the road, behind a larger conifer, more or less across from the outhouse on the W side of the road.

p1090021 — Is this the cone of the southwestern white pine?

Note on pinecones. It seems like conifer cones would be a useful way to help identify what kind of tree you are looking at. I found this specimen under the pine tree, but does it actually belong to this tree? It was the only cone. Between this tree and the conifer nearer to the road were strewn a number of other, slightly different cones. Descriptions of the white pine cone vary. How and where the cone grows on the tree can be of use in identification. Alas, no cones were visible on this tree at the time of viewing, eliminating the direction of growth as a helpful indicator.

Engelmann Spruce– A True Native of Larimer County

The oldest Engelmann Spruce is over 900 years old

It seems to me one of the most confusing aspects of spruce trees is their many alternate names. One of the names for the Engelmann Spruce is white spruce, as well as silver spruce and the generic-sounding mountain spruce. At a glance, the various species look very similar, too. The Engelmann Spruce (Picea engelmannii) is a native of North America. Listed in Flora of Colorado (Jennifer Ackerfield, 2015) it is native to Colorado as well as Larimer County! Unlike the White Spruce written about last week, internet sources concur this one is a native and show its range being the western part of the continent, south to the New Mexico/Texas border and north to the British Columbia/Yukon border. Possibly the confusion with the white spruce is due to the two trees hybridizing? The Gymnosperm Database mentions that the oldest Engelmann spruce is in Colorado and has attained at least 911 years of age.

PB290008 — White Spruce needles and cone on the left, Engelmann Spruce needles and cone on the right.

The fine needles on the twigs and branches of the Engelmann spruce are much more evenly spaced than those of the white spruce, reminding me of a bottle brush. From a distance, this is hard to distinguish. When examined closely, the spruce cones also have subtle differences; the ends of the Engelmann spruce cones appear to be toothed. Comparing the tagged park specimens, the cones of the Engelmann are also somewhat larger than those of the White Spruce. The Engelmann spruce is the second most common tree used for the Capitol Christmas tree with nine appearances since 1970.

The New York Times Style Magazine of December 3, 2017 short article “Chasing Pine” discussed a number of edible uses of conifers, including the historical spruce beer. Modern chefs make pine ice cream, pine aioli, and custard. Others use a spruce oil in drinks, Some sprinkle a spruce-sugar concoction on cookies.

The Englemann Spruce listed on the tree guide (D193) is at the Southwest corner of City Park and Sheldon Drive. You can access this corner by turning onto Sheldon Drive from Mulberry and parking near the intersection with City Park Drive. That corner of the park is lined by deciduous trees on the eastern and northern edges. Numerous conifers form the south edge along the lakeshore. The marked tree sits in front of the larger spruces, between an Oakleaf Mountain Ash and a Baker Blue Spruce. It has a perfect conical Christmas tree shape.