Pinus ponderosa
Pinus ponderosa, commonly known as the ponderosa pine, bull pine, blackjack pine, western yellow-pine, or filipinus pine is a very large pine tree species of variable habitat native to mountainous regions of western North America. It is the most widely distributed pine species in North America.: 4
| Ponderosa pine | |
|---|---|
| Pinus ponderosa subsp. ponderosa | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Gymnospermae |
| Division: | Pinophyta |
| Class: | Pinopsida |
| Order: | Pinales |
| Family: | Pinaceae |
| Genus: | Pinus |
| Subgenus: | P. subg. Pinus |
| Section: | P. sect. Trifoliae |
| Subsection: | P. subsect. Ponderosae |
| Species: | P. ponderosa |
| Binomial name | |
| Pinus ponderosa Douglas ex C.Lawson | |
| Natural range of Pinus ponderosa
green - P. ponderosa subsp. ponderosa
red - P. ponderosa subsp. benthamiana
blue - P. ponderosa subsp. scopulorum
yellow - P. ponderosa subsp. brachyptera | |
Pinus ponderosa grows in various erect forms from British Columbia southward and eastward through 16 western U.S. states and has been introduced in temperate regions of Europe, and in New Zealand. It was first documented in modern science in 1826 in eastern Washington near present-day Spokane (of which it is the official city tree). On that occasion, David Douglas misidentified it as Pinus resinosa (red pine). In 1829, Douglas concluded that he had a new pine among his specimens and coined the name Pinus ponderosa for its heavy wood. In 1836, it was formally named and described by Charles Lawson, a Scottish nurseryman. It was adopted as the official state tree of Montana in 1949.