Lodgepole Pine
Pinus contorta
Pine family (Pinaceae)

Lodgepole Pine is common to uncommon through the Colorado Rockies but it becomes one of the most common trees in the Northern Rocky Mountains. Lodgepole produce serotinous cones that remain on the tree for years, and require temperatures above 113 degrees F to melt the resin and release the seed. In nature, only forest fires generate temperatures of this magnitude within a tree's crown. The wood is extensively used for lumber and poles for buildings and fences. Lodgepole stands provide summer range for big game animals. The tree's name arises from the Native American use of the poles for lodges. David Douglas (of Douglas Fir fame) was the first to identify this tree for science from specimens he found "in swampy ground near the sea coast, and abundantly near Cape Disappointment, Washington and Cape Lookout, Oregon" in the mid-1820s.

Description

Coniferous tree up to 100' tall. Needles 2" long, in bundles of 2, and often twisted. Needles twist apart from one another -- leading to the scientific name "contorta." Seed cones are yellow-brown, and average about 1.5" in length. Cones are larger on one side (asymmetrical) near the base and their tips at the cone apex are armed with sharp prickles. Bark is scaly, brown to gray, loosely attached, and thin, rarely exceeding 0.5" thick, which reduces the tree's resistance to fire.

Field Marks

2-needle pine with needles twisting apart.

© Al Schneider