Pinus contorta Loud.

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Credits

Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles

Recommended citation
'Pinus contorta' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/pinus/pinus-contorta/). Accessed 2024-03-18.

Genus

Common Names

  • Beach Pine

Glossary

glabrous
Lacking hairs smooth. glabrescent Becoming hairless.
mutation
Novel characteristic arisen as a result of a spontaneous genetic change mutant Individual with a mutation.

References

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Credits

Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles

Recommended citation
'Pinus contorta' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/pinus/pinus-contorta/). Accessed 2024-03-18.

A tree 20 to 30 ft in the wild, but taller in cultivation; bark of mature trees thick, roughly fissured; young shoots often curiously twisted, glabrous; terminal buds narrowly cylindrical, 34 to 1 in. long, resinous. Leaves in pairs, 112 to 214 in. long, 112 in. or less wide, dark green, persisting three, four, or more years; leaf-sheath 316 in. long, persistent. Cones obliquely conical, up to 2 in. long, 34 in. wide at the base before expanding; scales terminated by a slender spine which wears away in time.

Native of the coast region of western N. America, from Alaska to S. California; discovered by Douglas in 1825; introduced shortly before 1855. It belongs to the group of two-leaved pines with persistent leaf-sheaths, and cylindrical, resinous winter-buds. In the absence of cones it might be confused with the mountain pine of Europe, P. uncinata, but in that species the leaves persist for five to ten years and the leaf-sheath is longer – up to 58 in. long.

In recent years P. contorta has become an important forestry tree in Britain, especially as a pioneer tree on poor peaty soils. Among the largest specimens in collections are: Grayswood Hill, Haslemere, Surrey, pl. 1886, 66 × 834 ft (1971); Warnham Court, Sussex, 73 × 914 ft (1971); Westonbirt, Glos., in Broad Drive, 61 × 9 ft (1970); Bodnant, Denb., pl. 1876, 105 × 934 ft (1974); Ashford Castle, Co. Mayo, Eire, 88 × 1214 ft (1966).

P. contorta, in the wide sense, is a very variable species and there is no unanimity as to how it should be subdivided. The two varieties treated below are not clearly demarcated and are themselves variable. The complex is discussed by W. B. Critchfield in Geographic Variation in Pinus contorta (Maria Moors Cabot Foundation Publ. Vol. 3, 1–118 (1957)).

From the Supplement (Vol. V)

specimens: Grayswood Hill, Haslemere, Surrey, pl. 1876, this tree has been removed; Warnham Court, Sussex, 82 × 912 ft (1983); St Clere, Kent, 60 × 8 ft (1983); Bowood, Wilts., 79 × 8 ft and 77 × 814 ft (1984); Westonbirt, Glos., Broad Drive, 66 × 912 ft (1982); Bodnant, Gwyn., pl. 1876, this tree was blown down 1974; Castle Milk, Dumfr., 80 × 712 ft (1984).

var. latifoliaspecimens: Dropmore, Bucks., 84 × 6 ft (1982); Leonardslee, Sussex, 92 × 512 ft (1984); Westonbirt, Glos., Pool. pl. 1875, 82 × 8 ft (1979); Bodnant, Gwyn., 67 × 612 ft (1981); Culcreuch Castle, Stirlings., 94 × 7 ft (1984).

† cv. ‘Frisian Gold’. – Young foliage becoming a striking gold, most intense during the winter. Low, spreading habit, at least when young. This arose as a mutation in the nursery of J. D. zu Jeddeloh, Germany, around 1962, and was named in 1979.


var. latifolia S. Wats.

Common Names
Lodgepole Pine

Synonyms
P. murrayana and P. contorta var. murrayana of most authors, in part
P. contorta subsp. latifolia (S. Wats.) Critchfield

From typical P. contorta this variety can be distinguished by the thin bark of its trunk (rarely more than {1/4} in. thick) of a pale grey or brown, covered with thin scales, but comparatively smooth; also by its longer, yellowish green leaves; the leaves also tend to be rather wider, but the difference is not marked or consistent enough to be of much value in identification. The tree itself attains to a considerably greater height than typical P. contorta and, compared with var. murrayana, the trunk is slender, rarely more than 1 ft in diameter in trees a century old. It is a closed-cone pine, shedding only a small proportion of its seed each year. The bulk of the cones remain closed on the tree for a considerable period, but release their seed in vast quantities after a forest fire. In this way it quickly colonises the devastated area and dense, even-aged stands grow up.Whereas typical P. contorta inhabits the coastal region, the var. latifolia is a native of the Rocky Mountains, ranging from W. Alaska to Colorado, and ascending to 11,000 ft at the southern end of its range (to 6,000 ft in British Columbia). It was introduced shortly before 1855.


var. murrayana (Balf.) Engelm.

Synonyms
P. murrayana Balf.
P. contorta subsp. murrayana (Balf.) Critchfield
P. tamrac A. Murr

This variety is tall-growing, like var. latifolia, but is much stouter, with a trunk 3 ft or more in diameter. It also differs in its pinkish bark, in bearing cones that usually shed their seed when ripe and soon fall from the tree, and in its rather broader leaves, up to {1/10} in. wide. It is confined to the Cascade range and inner California and was discovered and introduced by Jeffrey, who collected cones for the Oregon Association in autumn 1852. No mature specimen has been traced but there are young trees in the trial plots of the Forestry Commission, which grow very slowly.