EVERGREENS OF COLORADO 15 



specimens may be found much higher than this. It is capable of growing 

 in drier situations than most of our other conifers, and is therefore the 

 common type of tree found upon southern and western slopes. Upon dry 

 and rocky ridges this pine grows in low rounded form with short, stocky 

 trunk, but when more favorably situated as to soil and moisture, it 

 reaches a height of 80 to 100 feet and a trunk diameter of two to four 

 feet. In such cases, the trunk loses its lower limbs in early age and 

 forms clear trunks adapted to the better class of lumber. The needles 

 are dark green in color and are borne in bundles of two to three on the 

 same twig. Their length is from three to six inches. 



The bark on trees of moderate age is broken into rounded ridges, 

 covered with small brownish or nearly black scales. In this condition, 

 the tree is often known as Black Jack among lumbermen. In trees that 

 have reached two feet in diameter, the bark usually divides into broad 

 plates which extend up and down the trunk and are covered with cinna- 

 mon red scales, due to the disappearing of the outermost layers. Under 

 such conditions, the bark acquires a thickness of from one to three inches. 

 The sap wood is nearly white, while the heart wood takes on a light red 

 color. It is heavy and strong, but differs much in quality and is apt to 

 be quite knotty unless sawn from very large clear trunks. The botanical 

 name, ponderosa, refers to the great size and heavy weight of this timber. 



The cones in our region are usually 2 % to 3 inches in length and 

 the thick, hard scales are tipped with slender prickles, which become 

 easily broken off after the cones have opened to discharge the seeds. 

 The seeds are about one-quarter inch long with wings about one inch in 

 length. The seeds germinate readily and the seedlings are able to with- 

 stand the direct sunlight, making this one of the easiest of our native 

 evergreens to raise from seed. This is our most important native lumber 

 tree in Colorado and produces the best quality of lumber in the matter 

 of strength and durability. While it is still common throughout the 

 eastern foothills of the state, the most extensive forests of this tree were 

 at one time to be found in the southwestern portion of the state in the 

 Mesa Verde region where extensive lumbering operations have been 

 carried on. Much of this cut-over land is now being reforested, however, 

 by a natural growth of this tree. 



4. LODGE POLE PINE, WHITE PINE. 

 contort a mnrrat/an(t Engelm. 



The lodge pole pine, also improperly called white pine, derives its 

 name from the use which has been made of it by the Indians in the build- 

 ing of their tepees. Its distribution is quite general throughout the 

 Rocky Mountain region from Northern British Columbia to Northern 

 Arizona and New Mexico and westward to the mountains of Oregon and 

 Northern California. In Colorado, north of the San Luis Valley, it is 

 very generally distributed throughout the Rocky Mountains at elevations 

 between 8,500 and 10,000 feet altitude. It usually begins a little lower 

 down than where the Rock Pine leaves off, so that in ascending the 



