w BS1 ERN > > l.l. l.ow PINI 

 Pmits pondi rosn DougL 



The Pine Family 

 PIN \( i U 



Hal>i t and Habitat: A massive tree, sometimes 160-230 feet high, 

 with a massive trunk 5-8 feet in diameter, usually considerably smaller, 



the short, thick, many-forked, often pendulous branches generally turned 

 upward at the ends and forming a regular, Bpire-like, open crown or in 

 arid region! a broader, and often round-topped crown supported by a 

 short, stocky trunk. Abundant in dry and moist Boils in open park-lik" 



ids or in rather close, pure forests of wide extent on mountain slo] 

 dry valleys and high mesas. Demands much light. 



Leaves and Buds: The leaves are in clusters of two or thr< 

 tufted at the ends of naked twigs, stout, dark yellow-green, .VI 1 inches 

 long:, mostly falling; during; their third season. Terminal bud Vk-% 

 inch long;; lateral buds about half as long;, ovate, gradually narrowed 

 anil acute at the apex, light chestnut-brown. 



Flowers and Fruits: Flowers produced in cones in .May or June; 

 staminate in clusters at the base of the current shoots, yellow, 14-% 

 inch long; pistillate cones clustered or in pairs, short-stalked, dark red, 

 scales fleshy. Fruit a woody cone maturing; in August of the second 

 season and shedding; the seeds mainly during; September, oval, horizontal 

 or declining;, stalkless or short-stalked, 3-6 inches long;, often clustered, 

 bright green or purple when fully grown, becoming; light reddish-brown, 

 with narrow scales thickened at the apex and armed with slender prickles, 

 mostly falling soon after they open and shed their seeds, generally leav- 

 ing the lower scales attached to the twig. Seeds ovate, acute, full and 

 rounded, V4 inch lone;, with a thin, often mottled shell and surrounded 

 by a membranous wing about 1 inch long. 



Bark, Twigs and Wood: The bark of old trunks is marked by very 

 broad, shield-like, russet-red plates 3-4 inches thick and covered with 

 small concave, cinnamon-red scales; younger trees, up to 2 feet in 

 diameter, are often unlike older ones in having dark reddish-brown or 

 blackish, narrowly furrowed bark, the ''black jack" of lumbermen; 

 young shoots and twigs are yellowish-green, orange colored or later 

 brownish and emit a strong odor of orange when bruised. Wood rang- 

 ing from pale lemon-yellow r to orange-brown or reddish-yellow, with thin 

 nearly white sapwood, quite hard, resinous, strong, fine-grained; largely 

 manufactured into lumber, mine timbers, railway ties, fencing and fuel. 



Distribution in the State: This is our only native pine tree, it 

 being found along Pine Ridge and the bluffs of the Niobrara river east- 

 ward to Keys Paha and Holt counties, also in the rough country of 

 Scottsbluff, Banner and Kimball counties and in the breaks of the North 

 Platte river eastward to Morrill and Garden counties and in a number <>f 

 scattered, indefinitelv determined localities in other parts of the state 

 Map j. 



Remarks: The most extensive pine forests in North America are the 

 western yellow pine forests of New Mexico and Arizona from which 

 large supplies of lumber have been taken and in which many mills an 

 working now. The most extensive forests in Nebraska are also com 

 posed of this species as it is found on the hills and slopes of Pine Ridir* 

 in Sioux and Dawes counties in northwestern Nebraska. 



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