Description

Leaves: Blue-green (more bluish than Eastern white pine); evergreen needles; thin (thinner than limber pine), 2" to 6" in length (longer than limber pine); finely toothed near tip, often twisted, and relatively soft; usually 5 needles per fascicle (sometimes 2-4); persist for 3-5 years; fascicle sheath is deciduous.

Twigs/buds: Twigs green, becoming grayish-brown, moderately slender. Buds egg-shaped to cone-shaped.

Flowers/fruit: Flowers monoecious; male flowers pale yellow, cylindrical, in clusters by tips of branches; female flowers light green to red in color, also near branch tips. Fruit a woody cone; yellowish-brown to brown, cylindrical, 2-1/2" to 14" in length; maturing by late summer; scales with hooked and narrow tips, without prickles; stalk long (up to 2-1/2" long).

Bark: Dark grayish-brown to gray; smooth when young, but deeply furrowed and scaly (like limber) with age.

Wood: Sapwood white, heartwood slightly darker; not resinous; used in making doors, cabinets, and window frames; less desirable for lumber due to crooked stems and thick branches.

General: Native to northern Mexico, Arizona and New Mexico. Often grows from 30' to 80' tall under cultivation, and even taller in the wild. Habit is slender, straight, and rounded; and it is pyramidal or cone-shaped when young. Prefers full sun and moist soil. More drought tolerant than eastern white pine (P. strobus).

Landscape Use: Could be used in Utah landscapes. Use as a specimen or for screens. Rarely cultivated. Thought by some to be a variety of limber pine (P. flexilis var. reflexa), it differs from limber pine by having larger cones and narrower tips on its cone scales, which curve back toward the base. Its needles are a nice blue-green. Makes a good Christmas tree. Zones 5-9.

Cultivars: 'Coronado', 'Foxtail', 'Glauca Compacta', 'Loma Linda', 'Pendula'.

Characteristics