Pinus ponderosa, Ponderosa Pine (30)


Several Ponderosa Pines, Pinus ponderosa, are planted in the lawn on the southwest corner of Mulford Hall. There are also some across the small road to the east, which are smaller. The trees in front of Mulford are of Sierra Nevada origin, while the smaller trees are from the Rocky Mountains, according to Trees of the Berkeley Campus.

The Ponderosa Pine is the most widely distributed pine species in North America (Mirov, 1967). Its north/south distribution extends from British Columbia to the Mexican border. Longitudinally, Ponderosa Pines can be found from eastwards from 500 feet in elevaton to 9500 feet. It is found in the Sierra Nevada, higher elevation ranges in Nevada, and in the Rocky Mountains. The furthest east colony is in Oklahoma (Mirov, 1967).

The Ponderosa Pine grows in montane woodlands mixed with other varieties of montane pines, in mixed woodlands, and sometimes in chaparral dominated areas (Stuart and Sawyer, 2001). Its needles occur in groups of three and are green to yellow green in color. Cones are conical and deciduous. The bark is similar to the Jeffrey Pine’s bark and is composed of red brown plates separated by fissures. The plates are composed of puzzle shaped pieces. It was once thought that the Jeffrey Pine and the Ponderosa Pine were varieties of the same species as the two species cross naturally with one another. However, it is now considered that they two trees are separate species (Mirov, 1967).
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