Pinus lambertiana, commonly known as the sugar pine or sugar cone pine, is the tallest and most massive pine

Pine

Pines are trees in the genus Pinus ,in the family Pinaceae. They make up the monotypic subfamily Pinoideae. There are about 115 species of pine, although different authorities accept between 105 and 125 species.-Etymology:...

, with the longest cones

Conifer cone

A cone is an organ on plants in the division Pinophyta that contains the reproductive structures. The familiar woody cone is the female cone, which produces seeds. The male cones, which produce pollen, are usually herbaceous and much less conspicuous even at full maturity...

 of any conifer. It is native to the mountains of the Pacific coast

Pacific Coast

A country's Pacific coast is the part of its coast bordering the Pacific Ocean.-The Americas:Countries on the western side of the Americas have a Pacific coast as their western border.* Geography of Canada* Geography of Chile* Geography of Colombia...

 of North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

, from Oregon

Oregon

Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...

 through California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

 to Baja California

Baja California

Baja California officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is both the northernmost and westernmost state of Mexico. Before becoming a state in 1953, the area was known as the North...

.

Growth

The sugar pine is the largest species of pine, commonly growing to 40-60 meters (130-200 feet) tall, exceptionally up to 82 m (269 ft) tall, with a trunk diameter of 1.5-2.5 m (5-8 ft), exceptionally 3.5 m (11 ft). Tallest ever recorded was "Yosemite Giant" , an 82.05 m (269.2 ft) tall specimen in Yosemite National Park. This tree died from bark beetle attack in 2007. Tallest known living specimens today grow in southern Oregon. One in Umpqua National Forest is 77.7 m (255 ft) and another in Siskyou National Forest is 77.2 m (253.5 ft).

Pinus lambertiana is a member of the white pine

Pinus classification

There are three main subgenera of Pinus, the subgenus Strobus , the subgenus Ducampopinus , and the subgenus Pinus...

 group, Pinus subgenus Strobus, and like all members of that group, the leaves

Leaf

A leaf is an organ of a vascular plant, as defined in botanical terms, and in particular in plant morphology. Foliage is a mass noun that refers to leaves as a feature of plants....

 ('needles') are in bundles (fascicles

Fascicle (botany)

In botany, a fascicle is a bundle of leaves or flowers, or of the vascular tissues that supply these organs with nutrients...

) of five, with a deciduous sheath. They are 6-11 cm (2-4 inch) long. Sugar pine is notable for having the longest cones

Conifer cone

A cone is an organ on plants in the division Pinophyta that contains the reproductive structures. The familiar woody cone is the female cone, which produces seeds. The male cones, which produce pollen, are usually herbaceous and much less conspicuous even at full maturity...

 of any conifer, mostly 25-50 cm (10-20 in) long, exceptionally up to 66 cm (26 in) long (although the cones of the Coulter pine

Coulter Pine

The Coulter Pine or Big-cone Pine is a native of the coastal mountains of southern California and northern Baja California . Isolated groves are found as far north as the San Francisco Bay Area in Mt. Diablo State Park and Black Diamond Mines Regional Preserve...

 are more massive). The seed

Seed

A seed is a small embryonic plant enclosed in a covering called the seed coat, usually with some stored food. It is the product of the ripened ovule of gymnosperm and angiosperm plants which occurs after fertilization and some growth within the mother plant...

s are 10-12 mm (0.4-0.5 in) long, with a 2-3 cm (0.75-1.2 in) long wing that aids wind dispersal. The seeds of the sugar pine are also a type of pine nut

Pine nut

Pine nuts are the edible seeds of pines . About 20 species of pine produce seeds large enough to be worth harvesting; in other pines the seeds are also edible, but are too small to be of great value as a human food....

 and are edible.

Distribution

The sugar pine occurs in the mountains of Oregon

Oregon

Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...

 and California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

 in the western United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, and Baja California

Baja California

Baja California officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is both the northernmost and westernmost state of Mexico. Before becoming a state in 1953, the area was known as the North...

 in northwestern Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

; specifically the Cascade Range

Cascade Range

The Cascade Range is a major mountain range of western North America, extending from southern British Columbia through Washington and Oregon to Northern California. It includes both non-volcanic mountains, such as the North Cascades, and the notable volcanoes known as the High Cascades...

, Sierra Nevada, Coast Ranges

Pacific Coast Ranges

The Pacific Coast Ranges and the Pacific Mountain System are the series of mountain ranges that stretch along the West Coast of North America from Alaska south to Northern and Central Mexico...

, and Sierra San Pedro Martir

Sierra San Pedro Mártir

Sierra de San Pedro Mártir is a mountain range that is one of the Peninsular Ranges of the Baja California peninsula, Mexico. At , the highest peak is the Picacho del Diablo, also known as Cerro de la Encantada or Picacho la Providencia...

.

White pine blister rust

The sugar pine has been severely affected by the white pine blister rust (Cronartium ribicola

Cronartium ribicola

Cronartium ribicola is a species of rust fungi in the family Cronartiaceae that causes the disease white pine blister rust.Like many other rusts, C. ribicola is heteroecious, meaning it requires two host species to complete its lifecycle that includes five spore stages...

), a fungus that was accidentally introduced from Europe in 1909. A high proportion of the sugar pine has been killed by the blister

Blister

A blister is a small pocket of fluid within the upper layers of the skin, typically caused by forceful rubbing , burning, freezing, chemical exposure or infection. Most blisters are filled with a clear fluid called serum or plasma...

 rust

Rust (fungus)

Rusts are plant diseases caused by pathogenic fungi of the order Pucciniales. About 7800 species are known. Rusts can affect a variety of plants; leaves, stems, fruits and seeds. Rust is most commonly seen as coloured powder, composed off tiny aeciospores which land on vegetation producing...

, particularly in the northern part of the species' range that has experienced the rust for a longer period of time. The rust has also destroyed much of the Western White Pine

Western White Pine

Western White Pine, Pinus monticola in the family Pinaceae, is a species of pine that occurs in the mountains of the western United States and Canada, specifically the Sierra Nevada, the Cascade Range, the Coast Range, and the northern Rocky Mountains. The tree extends down to sea level in many...

 and Whitebark Pine

Whitebark Pine

Pinus albicaulis, known commonly as Whitebark Pine, Pitch Pine, Scrub Pine, and Creeping Pine occurs in the mountains of the Western United States and Canada, specifically the subalpine areas of the Sierra Nevada, the Cascade Range, the Pacific Coast Ranges, and the northern Rocky Mountains –...

 throughout their ranges.http://www.caforestpestcouncil.org/2005%20CFPC%20Meeting/1506%20Maloney_Dunlap%2005BR%20Survey.pdf The U.S. Forest Service has a program (see link below) for developing rust-resistant sugar pine and Western White Pine

Western White Pine

Western White Pine, Pinus monticola in the family Pinaceae, is a species of pine that occurs in the mountains of the western United States and Canada, specifically the Sierra Nevada, the Cascade Range, the Coast Range, and the northern Rocky Mountains. The tree extends down to sea level in many...

. Seedlings of these trees have been introduced into the wild. The Sugar Pine Foundation in the Lake Tahoe

Lake Tahoe

Lake Tahoe is a large freshwater lake in the Sierra Nevada of the United States. At a surface elevation of , it is located along the border between California and Nevada, west of Carson City. Lake Tahoe is the largest alpine lake in North America. Its depth is , making it the USA's second-deepest...

 Basin has been successful in finding resistant sugar pine seed trees and has demonstrated that it is important for private citizens to assist the U.S. Forest Service in restoring this species. However, Blister Rust is much less common in California, and Sugar, Western White and Whitebark pines still survive in great numbers there. http://www.sugarpinefoundation.org

Etymology

Naturalist

Natural history

Natural history is the scientific research of plants or animals, leaning more towards observational rather than experimental methods of study, and encompasses more research published in magazines than in academic journals. Grouped among the natural sciences, natural history is the systematic study...

 John Muir

John Muir

John Muir was a Scottish-born American naturalist, author, and early advocate of preservation of wilderness in the United States. His letters, essays, and books telling of his adventures in nature, especially in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California, have been read by millions...

 considered sugar pine to be the "king of the conifers". The common name comes from the sweet resin, which Muir found preferable to maple sugar

Maple sugar

Maple sugar is a traditional sweetener in the northeastern United States and Canada, prepared from the sap of the sugar maple tree.-Preparation:...

.http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1016/is_n11-12_v97/ai_11499965 It is also known as the great sugar pine. The scientific name was assigned by David Douglas

David Douglas

David Douglas was a Scottish botanist. He worked as a gardener, and explored the Scottish Highlands, North America, and Hawaii, where he died.-Early life:...

 in honor of Aylmer Bourke Lambert

Aylmer Bourke Lambert

Aylmer Bourke Lambert was a British botanist, one of the first fellows of the Linnean Society.He is best known for his work A description of the genus Pinus, issued in several parts 1803-1824, a sumptuously illustrated folio volume detailing all of the conifers then known...

.

Folklore

In the Achomawi

Achomawi

The Achomawi are one of eleven bands of the Pit River tribe of Native Americans who lived in northeastern California, USA....

 creation myth, Annikadel, the creator, makes one of the 'First People' by intentionally dropping a sugar pine seed in a place where it can grow. One of the descendants in this ancestry is Sugarpine-Cone man, who has a handsome son named Ahsoballache.

After Ahsoballache marries the daughter of To'kis the Chipmunk

Chipmunk

Chipmunks are small striped squirrels native to North America and Asia. They are usually classed either as a single genus with three subgenera, or as three genera.-Etymology and taxonomy:...

-woman, his grandfather insists that the new couple have a child. To this end, the grandfather breaks open a scale from a sugar pine cone, and secretly instructs Ahsoballache to immerse the scale's contents in spring water, then hide them inside a covered basket. Ahsoballache performs the tasks that night; at the next dawn, he and his wife discover the infant Edechewe

Edechewe

Edechewe is a folk hero of the Madesi, a Native American tribe of the Pit River region, located in what is now Northern California. Edechewe was born supernaturally from the cone of a sugar pine as the result of a magical rite performed by his father, Ahsoballache...

near their bed.