10 BULLETIN 426, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
SUGAR PINE-YELLCW PINE TYPE. 
in the sugar pine-yellow pine type, sugar pine makes up over 15 
per cent of the stand, its associates in the order of their commercial 
importance being yellow pine, white fir, Douglas fir, incense cedar, 
Jeffrey pine, and bigtree. This type generally occurs at an elevation 
of from 4,000 to 7,000 feet in the western central Sierra region of 
California. Sugar pine is at its best in this region and many large 
pine lumbermg operations are located within it. The altitudinal 
limits of the type vary with change of latitude, being somewhat 
lower in the northern part of California and higher in the southern. 
Because of the exacting moisture requirements of sugar pine, the 
heaviest stands in this type are found in moist draws, or gulches, 
where the humidity is highest, and on north and east slopes. It is 
in the gulches that Douglas fir is most prominent. On the hotter, 
drier slopes, sugar pine is largely replaced by yellow pine and cedar. 
SUGAR-PINE FIR TYPE. 
The sugar pine-fir type has over 15 per cent sugar pine, Douglas 
fir and white fir in considerable quantities, and no yellow pine. It 
occurs in favorable moist, humid situations and is found principally 
in the northern portion of the Sierra Nevadas and Coast Ranges. 
This type covers a much smaller area than the sugar pine-yellow pine 
type and is relatively unimportant. To the south it merges into the 
yellow pme-sugar pine or fir type. 
in addition to these two distinct cover types in which sugar pine 
is the key tree, it is found less well represented in the yellow pine, 
Jefirey pine, fir, and red fir types. In short, wherever the annual 
precipitation is sufficient to meet its requirements and sufficient lhght 
is available, this tree may be found. As moisture conditions become 
less favorable it seeks sheltered localities, and as they. a it 
ventures into more exposed situations. The dense shade and f fogs 
of the coast redwood and Douglas fir forests prevent it from becom- 
ing an important factor in the “heavily forested belt west of the Call- 
fornia coast range. 
THE WOOD. 
APPEARANCE AND STRUCTURE. 
Tn external appearance the wood of sugar pine is strikingly similar 
to that of eastern white pine (Pinus strobus) and western white pine 
(Pinus monticola). The sapwood and heartwood are fairly well de- 
fined; the former is white or yellowish white, the latter a very light 
brown, sometimes tinged with red in old trees which are very 
resinous. 
QUALITY.! 
Sugar pine is moderately hard and heavy, moderately strong and 
stiff, poor in shock-resisting ability, moderately coarse but straight- 
1 The paragraphs dealing with markets and manufacture and the uses, quality, weight, strength, dura- 
bility, and treatment of the wood were prepared by Carl A. Kupfer, forest examiner, Forest Service. _ 
x . — — 
