Pine indentification

albuslux

How can I tell Pines apart in the wild? There are so many. White, Yellow, Red, Black, five needle(that one I can tell), etc, etc.

Thanks,
Jeff

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One of my back-burner projects is to get a bonsai identifier together that will help with plant identification.

There are some characteristics that help divide pines, including the following
[*]Needle count - The number of needles in each fascicle, which can vary from 1,2,3 or five[*]Presence of a stripe along the side of each needle. *Which is a good identifier for white pine[*]Needle length - but this is not as reliable an indicator in potted plants because there is a lot of variation.[*]Needle color - again a variable attribute, especially in "captivity."

There actually is rather a small number of pines most often grown for bonsai. *You can see pictures of some of these at
http://bluehen.ags.udel.edu/udbg/conifers/conifers.html
[*]Japanese Black Pine - Pinus thunbergiana (2 needles, medium length, hard & sharp)[*]Japanese Red Pine - Pinus densiflora (2 needles, softer than Black)[*]Japanese White Pine - Pinus parviflora (5 needles, very short)[*]Austrian Black Pine - Pinus nigra (2 needles, fairly short)[*]Mugo Pine - Pinus Mugo (fairly short needles)[*]Monterey pine - (3 needles - fairly long)[*]Scotts Pine - Pinus sylvestris[*]Jack Pine

I have seen a couple attempts at[*]Bristlecone Pine - Pinus aristata [*]Montezuma Pine

It would be interesting to see Torrey pine as bonsai. *It is the "rarest native pine in the United States", and is a 5 needle pine.
http://www.torreypine.org/hn_tptre.htm
In addition there are some non-pine evergreens that are sometimes called pines, but they are not:
[*]Buddhist Pine - Podocarpus spp.[*]Norfolk Island Pine - Araucaria hetrophylla

Any other pines anyone is growing?

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Earl

The Pinus Contorta I acquired lately. At the Seacrest show there were 5 or 6 of the Shore or Lodgepoll varieties and they were all wonderful bonsai. I'm surprized they are not done more, given their beauty.

Earl

Make that Lodgepole. We have Lodgepole forests on this side of the mountains but they are tall, straight trees. The ones at the show were contorted like the Shore Pines.

bwaynef

Just wondering, did this ever happen. I understand why it was a back-burner... must be a HhYOOOOOOJ project.

WF

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