| General Information |
| Common Name | Lodgepole Pine |
| Scientific Name | Pinus Contorta |
| Sun Tolerance | Full Sun |
| Height | 40-50 m (130-160 ft) |
| Spread | 15 - 30 m (50 - 100 ft) |
| Growth Rate | Fast |
| Bloom Time | Spring |
| Color | Green, |
| Flower Color | Gold |
| Type | Tree |
| Native | USA, Asia, Europe. |
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| Classification |
| Kingdom | Plantae – Plants |
| Subkingdom | Tracheobionta – Vascular plants |
| Superdivision | Spermatophyta – Seed plants |
| Division | Coniferophyta – Conifers |
| Class | Pinopsida |
| Subclass |
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| Order | Pinales |
| Family | Pinaceae – Pine family |
| Genus | Pinus – Pine |
| Species | P. contorata |
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Pinus Contorta commonly known as Lodgepole Pine is native to
North America. It’s a two-needled conifer. The name ‘Lodgepole’ is derived from
its use by Indians as poles to support their wigwams or lodges.
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| Pinus Contorta – Lodgepole Pine |
The twigs are orange-brown to black wrinkled when young. The
long buds are cylindrical, resinous and blunt. The young shoots stand upright
in May and June like emerald candles. The needles are stiff and in pairs, bound
together at their base by a sheath consisting of membranous scales.
They are of similar length about 2-5 cm to those of Scots
Pine but are stouter slightly twisted and yellowish-green or mid-green. The
foliage tends to be dense with much overlapping of needles in trees of American
costal provenances.
The flowers of both sexes are found on the same tree and
they are produced from the second year of life. The males are rather dense
clusters of yellow to orange globules and the females (terminal on new shoots)
are small and crimson, soon becoming reddish-purple, plum-colored and spiky cone-lets.
The cones on inland and northern provenances of Lodgepole Pine are often at a
node two-third of the way up the year’s shoot; but the coastal provenances are
rarely bi-nodal in growth. The cone points down the shoot, is somewhat
egg-shaped, about 4 cm in length and the raised portion of each scale (the
umbo) bears a small sharp prickle.
The bark is rather odd, being a dull brownish-black and
broken into small squarish plates divided by shallow furrows, or closely scaly.
The heartwood is a pale straw color and there is very little contrast between
heartwood and sapwood. The timber has proved a satisfactory alternative to
Scots Pine for roofing, flooring, interior framing, and other joinery.
Thinnings are used for paper pulp, chipboard, poles and pit-props.
