Pinaceae (pine family) Pinus

Pinus ponderosa ponderosa pine

Western North America
Pair of Pinus ponderosa in Lathrop Park. Sairus Patel, 3 Jan 2019
Pinus ponderosa seed cone with fearsome prickles; needles in clusters of three. Lathrop Park. Sairus Patel, 3 Jan 2019

Widely distributed through the Rocky Mountains into Canada, in the Cascades, and in the mountains of California, Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico, ponderosa pine stands in the United States outnumber those of any other tree, except Douglas fir. Its range includes parts of the Santa Cruz Mountains a few miles south of Stanford. The 6-inch dark green needles are three to a cluster and the prickly cones are about 5 inches long. The tree closely resembles Jeffrey pine.

Pinus ponderosa. From Forest Trees of the Pacific Slope, George B. Sudworth, USDA, 1907

Pacific ponderosas (P. ponderosa subsp. benthamiana) and sugar pines (P. lambertiana) share the list of tallest pines in the world quite evenly. Each has pushed the other off the pedestal for champion over the decades. In 2017, the grand prize for tallest pine went to a Pacific ponderosa in the Sierras which towered to over 274 feet.

A pair of younger specimens are in Lathrop Park, well uphill from 809 Lathrop Drive (location). A handsome specimen on the right at 947 Mears Court may be ponderosa pine (or it may be a Jeffrey – securing a mature, open cone would help). An old specimen with a 4-foot girth had been reported in the Arboretum in the northwest corner where Campus Drive crosses Palm Drive (near map pin).

· A simple key to campus pines

Name derivation: Pinus – Latin for pine; ponderosa – heavy (the wood).

About this Entry: The main text of this entry is from the book Trees of Stanford and Environs, by Ronald Bracewell, published 2005. Tallest pine note updated Oct 2017 (SP). Old specimen in Arboretum noted as missing; all locations up to date (Jun 2019, SP). Possible Mears specimen added; edits (Jan 2024, SP).