Sugar pine is a tall tree that can grow to over 200 feet (60 meters). It is most easily recognized by its long cones.
Needles:
Sugar pine
has 5
needles per bundle. You can distinguish it from western white pine by
looking at the white coloring on the needles. Sugar pine has this white
bloom on all 3 sides, western white pine on just 2 sides.
Cones: Sugar pine cones are longer than any other pine, up to 20 inches (50 cm).
Bark:
The bark
is gray to brown and breaks into
furrows between scaly plates on large trees. The plates often
resemble the shape, but not the color of ponderosa pine.
Where it grows:
Sugar pine grows in the middle and southern Cascades of Oregon, the
Siskiyous, and throughout the mountains of California, at elevations
above 1000 feet (300 meters). It grows as far north as the southern edge of the
Mount Hood National Forest.
Uses: It has
uses similar to western white pine and ponderosa pine.
Names:
Sugar pine is
named after the sweet resin that comes from wounds to the tree. David
Douglas named it lambertiana
after British botanist Aylmer Bourke Lambert.
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