Pinus ponderosa

Pinus ponderosa, called the ponderosa pine or western yellow pine, is a large pine that grows in a range of habitats across the mountain regions of western North America. It has the widest distribution of any pine on the continent.

This tree takes various upright forms across 16 western U.S. states, British Columbia in Canada, and has been brought to temperate parts of Europe and New Zealand. It was first recorded by modern science in 1826 near what is now Spokane, Washington (where it is the official city tree). On that trip, David Douglas mistook it for *Pinus resinosa* (red pine). By 1829, Douglas realized he had a new species and gave it the name *Pinus ponderosa* because of its heavy wood. It was formally named and described in 1836 by Scottish nurseryman Charles Lawson. Montana made it the official state tree in 1949. Other names like "bull pine" and "blackjack pine" have been used, but these are general terms loggers apply to growth stages of several different pines, not just this species.

The bark is a key way to tell it apart from other pines. Older trees have yellow to orange-red bark in wide plates with black cracks, while younger trees have blackish-brown bark that early loggers called "blackjacks." The five varieties or subspecies (depending on the botanist) are identified by their bright-green needles, which contrast with the blue-green needles of the Jeffrey pine. The Pacific subspecies has the longest, most flexible needles (15–24 cm) in plume-like groups of three, and green immature cones. The North Plateau or Columbia ponderosa has long, fairly flexible needles (12–20.5 cm) in groups of three, and purple immature cones. The Rocky Mountains subspecies has shorter, stouter needles (9.2–14.4 cm) in bushy tufts of two or three, and usually green immature cones (purple at high altitudes). The southwestern subspecies has stout needles (11.2–19.8 cm) in groups of three. The central High Plains subspecies has the fewest branches (about 1.4 per whorl), stout upright branches at narrow angles, and long green needles (14.8–17.9 cm) that extend far along the branch, looking like a fox tail; these needles are the widest, stoutest, and fewest for the species. The egg-shaped cones, often found in large numbers under the trees, are 8–13 cm long, and each scale has a sharp point.

Opinions differ on the tree’s scent. Some say the bark smells like turpentine, possibly due to terpenes like alpha- and beta-pinene and delta-3-carene. Others say it has no distinct smell, or that bark from a furrow smells like vanilla. Everyone agrees that Jeffrey pine has a stronger scent. When carved, pitch-filled stumps give off a fresh pitch smell.

The National Register of Big Trees lists a ponderosa pine 72 m tall and 8.2 m in circumference. In January 2011, a Pacific ponderosa in Oregon’s Rogue River–Siskiyou National Forest was laser-measured at 81.79 m. It was climbed in October 2011 and directly tape-measured at 81.77 m. As of 2015, a sugar pine (*Pinus lambertiana*) measured 83.45 m, surpassing the ponderosa that had been considered the world’s tallest pine.

The taxonomy is heavily debated. In 2013, Robert Z. Callaham argued it is a single species with five subspecies. The USDA PLANTS database lists them as varieties as of 2025. The World Plants database recognizes only three varieties, one described in 2024. World Flora Online lists just two varieties. Plants of the World Online lists four varieties but treats two other taxa as separate species. Christopher J. Earle’s Gymnosperm Database recognizes three subspecies and two separate species. The Flora of North America recognizes three varieties.

One recognized subspecies is *Pinus ponderosa* subsp. *benthamiana* (also called Pacific ponderosa pine), found from Washington’s Olympic Peninsula, Oregon west of the Cascades, throughout California, and into far western Nevada, at elevations from 100 to 2,700 m. It is accepted by GRIN and PLANTS as the correct name for Callaham’s subspecies *critchfieldiana*, and by POWO at varietal rank, but is considered a synonym of var. *ponderosa* by World Plants and WFO. Both Callaham and Haller & Vivrette cited Hartweg’s older name *benthamiana* in their synonymy.