Wow, The biosurvey link posted above left me even more confused. The climate and soils are far different in the panhandle of OK than the soil and climate that my two, young ponderosa pines are experiencing here. Mine are located in an area which can, in no way, be considered a mountain, or considered a semi-arid region like our OK panhandle. Rather, they are planted in slightly sloping, silty loam soil land that is only around 710 feet above sea level. Only 2 months after I planted these trees late this year's spring, the temps rose to the very humid, mid 90 degrees F. and before the summer's end these two young trees did not even hicup when the temps rose to a more dry level near 100 degrees. Then last week, every day we were getting lows in the mid 20 degrees F. with highs flirting around the freezing mark. Today, though, the high temps are forecast to reach 61 degrees F, with night time lows remaining well above freezing. All these extreme fluxuations would have hit hard many other newly planted, not yet well established, trees. Yet these young Ponderosa trees, while not showing much new growth, are still alive. Simply amazing! All that, and not one bit of suplimental water did they get during the dry season. After spending some time researching ponderosas, and getting more confused, I called the nursery today to find out what variety my ponderosa's are. turns out that the order documentation did not specifiy the variety. The supplier had simply assured the nursery owner that these Ponderosa's would do well in this area. So, as of now; I have concluded that my trees could possibly be a cross between the Rocky Mountain (var. Scopulorum)and (var. arizonica.) If not a cross, then they could be one of those two varieties. It is so good that my ponderosas did not display damage, from last summer's high heat or our recent 4 days of freezing rain; still, it remains to be seen how they will handle such future winter events or spring and fall storms once these trees begin to get some height on them. Hope I am not making a mistake trying to grow them. It did enourage me to read that they each send down a very deep tap root for stabalization, once they each begin to grow their canopies to great heights.

concerning the "native" or "non native" status of pinus sabiniana in southern oregon---thee are other examples of taxa typically regarded as endemic to california in that area including juglans hindsii, cercis occidentalis, aesculus californica, etc. that are apparently growing natively in isolated parts of the rogue valley area of southern oregon. the plants are growing in uncultivated/non roadside areas apparently not associated with either native american or euro-american settlements. certainly other elements of the largely californian chaparrel formation are also native in the area including arctostaphylos, ceanothus, garrya, cercocarpus, etc. local experts like frank callahan seem to believe that the plants are true relicts of a more extensive "california type" flora that has been restricted by cooler temps and further reduced by recent human activities. you can probably find his article on pinus sabiniana for the oregon native plant society by googling his name, "pinus sabiniana", and "rogue valley, oregon".

Coulter Pines are not rare at all. They are ubiquitous in the 5,000 feet range of the local Los Angeles and San Gabriel mountain range. Their long bluish gray needles are easy to spot and the bright beige cones dangling. Many of the cones are scattered on the ground below the trees. But some are close enough to reach and snag off. (Beware, that these trees are in National Forests so removing them is illegal). But as a teen, I used go up and collect closed mature Coulter pine cones and take them home. Like most cones, they are very resinous and sticky. Let the cones dry out in the sun in a dry place and they will eventually open. The seeds are easy to germinate. Coulter pines grow very fast and is a robust tree. I had several planted in my backyard before they became too big and I had to take them out. I have a Jeffrey Pine and a Ponderosa Pine and they grow much slower (at my seaside home). Even my White Fir is growing well (I collected the seed from the San Bernardino Mts.) I also have a nice Pinus edulis growing well too. No watering in the summer.

Dax, Cedrus brevifolia 'Bodrog' was made of seed of the Turkish Forest Service, dont know which elevation comes from. Clément, maybe you are right, but I dont know exactly. This one stands in semishadow, and I didnt start debate with the owner. But yours looks very good. Edwin, thanks, Berrima is really not flecked. Zsolt Some more pines: Picea koyamai Tenno Photo author Picea koyamai Tenno Photo author Pinus brutia Photo author Pinus ayacahuite Photo author Pinus ayacahuite Photo author Pinus ayacahuite Photo author Pinus coulteri Makkos Photo author Pinus coulteri Makkos Photo author Pinus coulteri Makkos Photo author Pinus coulteri Makkos' and Maria cones Photo author Pinus greggii Mex Photo author Pinus glabra Woodland Photo author Pinus glabra Woodland Photo author Pinus gerardiana Yogi Photo author Pinus gerardiana Yogi Photo author Pinus coulteri Maria Photo author Pinus pinaster Blondy Screw Photo author Pinus peuce Photo author Pinus nigra salzmannii Photo author Pinus luchuensis - Ryukyu tablepine Photo author Pinus luchuensis Photo author Pinus luchuensis Photo author Pinus luchuensis Photo author Pinus jeffreyi Joppi Photo author Pinus jeffreyi Photo author Pinus jeffreyi Photo author Pinus greggii Mex Photo author Pinus tabuliformis Photo author Pinus tabuliformis Photo author Pinus sabiniana Photo author Pinus sabiniana Photo author Pinus rudis Photo author Pinus ponderosa arizonica Photo author Pinus pinea Hunnia Photo author Pinus pinea Hunnia Photo author Pinus pinaster Blondy Screw Photo author Platycladus orientalis Nepalensis Photo author Platycladus orientalis Nepalensis Photo author Platycladus orientalis Nepalensis Photo author