  Mature tree in the Sierra Nevada [Dr. Linda B. Brubaker]. | Pinus contorta subsp. murrayana (Balfour) Engelmann 1880Common NamesSierra lodgepole pine (3), tamarack pine, tamrac pine.Taxonomic notesSyn: Pinus murrayana Balfour 1853; P.contorta var. murrayana (Balfour) Engelmann 1880 [in Watson, Bot. Calif. 2: 126]; P. bourcieri Carrière; P. tamrac A Murray (5).DescriptionTrees to 36 m tall and 90 cm dbh, straight, little tapering; crown mostly conic at maturity. Bark scaly, not evidently furrowed, orange- to purple-brown. Branches spreading, ascending at tips. Leaves 5-8cm x 1-2mm, yellow-green, apex acute. Seed cones maturing in 14-18 months, shedding seeds and falling soon thereafter, 3-6 cm long, nearly symmetric, buff-brown (unlike the darker orange-brown of the other ssp.), mostly spreading, rarely in whorls, more often paired or solitary, scales thin, flexible; mid and lower apophyses mostly shallowly domed; umbo with a slender, fragile 2-4 mm spine (3, 7).RangeIn the Sierra Nevada, Cascade and Klamath Mts. of: USA: Washington, Oregon, California; Mexico: Baja California Norte. Found in montane forests at 400-3500 m (5, 6). USDA hardiness zone 7.Big TreeHeight 32 m, dbh 196 cm, crown spread 20 m; also, height 36 m, dbh 185 cm, crown spread 17 m; both located in Stanislaus National Forest, CA (8).OldestA tree-ring chronology covering 471 years, presumably based on living tree material, was collected in 1984 in Yosemite Park, California (3000 m elev.; 37° 48'N, 119° 15' W) by K. Briffa and F.H. Schweingruber (9).DendrochronologyEthnobotanyObservationsRemarksCitations(1) Silba 1986.(2) Arno and Gyer 1973. (3) Robert Kral in the Flora of North America online. (4) Hickman 1993. (5) W.B. Critchfield 1957. Geographic variation in Pinus contorta. Maria Moors Cabot Foundation (Harvard) Publ. 3. (6) N.C. Wheeler & R.P. Guries 1982. Population structure, genic diversity, and morphological variation in Pinus contorta Dougl. Canad. J. Forest Res. 12: 595-606. (7) M.P. Frankis, personal communication 28-Feb-1999. (8) American Forests 1996 (9) Data accessed at the NOAA Paleoclimatology Program Tree-Ring Data Search Page, 24-Feb-1999. URL: http://julius.ngdc.noaa.gov/paleo/ftp-treering.html. See also:
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