Pinus lambertiana Seeds | Sugar Pine
LATIN NAME: Pinus lambertiana
COMMON NAME: Sugar Pine
Plant Profile
Sugar pine is the largest pine in the world, and it holds the record for the longest cone of any conifer, at up to half a metre. Mature trees reach 50 to 60 metres, occasionally more, with trunks two to three metres through and a crown of horizontal branches carrying needles in fives, 6 to 10 cm long, twisted and blue-green. The cones hang on stalks from the ends of the upper branches and reach 25 to 50 cm, sometimes longer, pale brown and resinous, with scales that exude a white sugar-like crust — the source of the name. The seed is large, thin-shelled and edible, and it was gathered by California Indian peoples. It grows from Oregon through the Sierra Nevada and the Coast Ranges to Baja California, in mixed conifer forest at 1000 to 2500 metres, and it is one of the most majestic trees in western North America.
Science & Biotechnology
Sugar pine is a five-needle white pine, in subsection Strobus, and its enormous cone is an extreme of a trend within the group toward large, heavy cones and large, animal-dispersed seed. The tree exudes a sweet, crystalline resin from wounds, which was chewed and used as a sweetener and as an adhesive by California Indian peoples, and which gives the species its name. It is also one of the species most severely affected by white pine blister rust, Cronartium ribicola, which has killed a large proportion of the trees across much of the range since the twentieth century, and by mountain pine beetle in drought years. Resistance screening has identified a small proportion of trees with genetic resistance, and these are the basis of breeding and restoration work. The species is a key component of Sierra mixed conifer forest and a major timber tree.
Uses & Benefits
The timber is excellent: light, straight-grained, easily worked and resistant to splitting, and it was one of the most valuable softwoods of the western United States, used for pattern-making, boxes, sashes and doors. The tree is also planted as an ornamental in large parks and gardens, where its scale and its extraordinary cones make it a specimen, though it needs a great deal of room and does not tolerate city conditions well. The seed was an important food for California Indian peoples and remains important to wildlife. In the wild the tree is a keystone of montane forest, providing nesting sites for large birds and shade for understorey species, and its loss to blister rust is one of the more significant ecological changes in the western mountains.
Growing from Seed
Stratify the seed cold and moist for six to eight weeks, then sow one to two centimetres deep in a deep pot of gritty, humus-rich compost at 18 to 20 °C. Germination is usually good, but the seedlings are vulnerable to damping-off and need good air movement. The taproot grows fast, so use a deep container and pot on early. Grow the young tree in light shade for its first summer, then in full sun. Plant out at three or four years, in autumn, on deep, well-drained soil with room for a 15-metre crown, and protect it from deer and from strong wind while it establishes. Water through the first three summers. The tree is hardy to about minus 20 but dislikes hot, dry lowland sites.
Our Take
The biggest pine there is, with the longest cone in the world; a tree for a large landscape and a long view, not for a small garden.
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