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Common Name:
Limber Pine
Family:
Pinaceae
Entry Author: Jeff Chichester.
Description: Small proportioned tree with a very extensive crown almost reaching to the ground.
Needles: 2.5 in. length, dark green in bundles of five.
Cones: 3 to 10 in. length, cylindrical shape.
Bark: Smooth light gray or greenish gray on young trees to a deeply fissured Dark brown as the tree ages.
Branching Pattern: Tapered pattern with drooping branches.
Height: 30 to 50 ft.
Life Span: Up to three hundred years
Conditions/Habitat/Kind of Forest: Found primarily in high altitudes in mountainous regions.
Range: Pinus flexilis can be found in the mountains and foothills of the Rocky Mountains in the western United States and southern Canada.
Ecological Interactions: Whit pine blister rust, an introduced fungal disease, is a common affliction of this species of tree. The seeds are an important food source for birds and small mammals.
Conservation Status-US/ World Wide:
Uses (Human): The seeds were used as a food source by the Northern Shoshone tribe, and other Great Basin tribes of Native Americans.
Comments: The tree gets its common name "Limber Pine" due to the flexibility of its twigs.
References:
Harlow, W., Harrar, E.S., White, F. (1979). Textbook of Dendrology. New York: Mcgraw Hill.
Gymnosperm Database, University of Bonn.
http://www.botanik.uni-bonn.de/conifers/pi/pin/flexilis.htm
