Pine Question

jguyett

My wife did some Yamadori for me last week while she was in Colorado, and brought home a nice three needle pine from just below the tree line around 12,000 feet. She still hasn't caught her breath. This will with a couple years growth make and excellant literati. I believe this is a Ponderosa, but I see there are a couple of other three needle cultivar's that would be close to this area also. Anyone out there have any ideas on this matter?

jg

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Bonsai Barry

12,OOO feet seems a little high to find ponderosa. Can you post a photo or at least tell us how many needles in a bundle?

Barry

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Bonsai Barry

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jguyett

It is a three needle pine, so it is somewhere in the Ponderosa group. It is stunted, at least five or more years old, and yes it was collected above the tree line.

jg

Bonsainut

Sounds interesting, any possible photos coming?

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jguyett

Yes, will post photo, once I figure out how.

jg

Vance Wood

If the needles are fairly long and appear kind of dusty it is most probably Ponderosa Pine. If I remember correctly Jeffery Pine also has three needles but I have not seen this tree in person and cannot identify it.

Just a word about nomenclature. You used the term cultivar in relation to other trees growing in this area. It's not a big deal and I certianly do not seek to offend or condescend but the term "cultivar" is always used in conjunction with trees that exist only by the intervention of man. You can go to the nursery and by Eastern White Pine, you can grow them successfully from seed etc. However there are some fancy versions of Eastern White Pine that are also grown and sold that have names like Horsford Dwarf, Glauca, and probably twenty others as well. These trees are cultivars and are produced by grafting only and would not exist without the nursery trade.

A cultivar comes about when a growth anomoly( called a withches broom) or unique seedling is found that posseses traits the parent plant does not have. If these anomolous traits are unigue enough and desirable enough grafts will be taken off of the single plant, cultivated and named with a special name that sets it apart from the parent species. This is a cultivar. If it were to go to seed it is almost guaranteed that its offspring will be like its parents and not itself. It is therefore almost always grown using grafts, and in rare occasions, cuttings.

jguyett

I stand corrected, should have said specie. Yes the Jeffrey is in the group of three needle as is the Washonie(sp?). They are all probably very close, and the morphological differences minor. The needles do appear somewhat dusty, as opposed to the shiney black, red and white pines in my collection. The needles are fairly thick, thicker say than a strobus, or the Japanese species.

jg