Conifers of the CSNM Taxonomy - Identification Characteristics - Ecological Role 

Pinaceae Pseudotsuga menziessi Douglas-fir Trees: A single round trunk to 300 ft tall and 13 ft. dbh, with a narrow to broadly conic crown that

typically becomes flattened or irregular in age Bark: Variable; gray to black or red-brown, generally with longitudinal fissures, scaly, sometimes

flaking. Twigs: Slender, yellowish-green and minutely pubscent, turning gray and glabrous, bearing small

circular leaf scars. Leaf buds ovoid, acute, 10 × 5 mm, not resinous. Needles: are about 1" long with a blunt tip. Green on top with 2 white bands below. Fruit: Woody cones (3-4" long), long peduncled, pendant, green turning golden brown; pitchfork-

shaped bracts. Seeds: light brown, with a 9-14 mm long, yellow-brown wingEthnobotany•Native peoples preferred it for fuel and also used its wood for diverse implements, including harpoon shafts and barbs, spoons and caskets. Its pitch was used for sealing joints and as a caulk for canoes and water vessels, and was also used as a medicinal salve for wounds (Pojar and Mackinnon 1994). •Much of the Pacific Northwest was settled primarily for the purpose of logging vast forests of giant Douglas-fir trees, which dominated portions of the landscape, such as the western Cascade Range, prone to severe but infrequent wildfire. At that time it was used primarily for construction, and many of the older houses in western Washington contain no other wood except for cedar (Thuja plicata) siding and shingles. It continues to be the preferred timber species in the region and most economically important.

Pinus contorta var. latifolia Lodgepole pine Trees: To 100 ft tall and 3 ft dbh, mostly straight and evenly tapering, or near timberline reduced

to shrub form by windblown ice; crown usually conic at maturity. Bark: Thin, gray- to red-brown, not evidently furrowed; flaky. Branches: Mostly horizontally spreading, not ascending at tip Leaves: Two needles per bundle (clustered); 1-3" long; commonly twisted (contorted). Fruit: Small, egg-shaped cones (1-2" long), often with a prickle at the end of each scale; seed

cones produced regularly from an early age; may remain closed on the tree for years; long-persistent, strongly asymmetric, mostly recurved.

Seeds: Small and germinate readily without pretreatment; seedlings have few cotyledons

Ethnobotany•The species' common name, lodgepole pine, derives from its use as the preferred tree for the lodge poles - that is, tepee poles - of native American Indians of the Great Plains and Rocky Mountains. Lodgepole pine continues to be highly desirable as a source of pole timber, which today is used in construction of rail fences, post-and-beam structures such as barns, and modern log cabins. Modern lumber mills using computer-directed saws are able to produce saw timber from trees as small as 5 cm diameter, using small timbers to build up glue-laminated beams of dimensional sizes.

Pinus ponderosa var. benthamiana Ponderosa pine; yellow, western yellow, bull, blackjack pine Trees: to 220 ft and 10 ft DBH; large and straight; crown broadly conic to rounded. Bark: yellow to red-brown, deeply irregularly furrowed, cross-checked into broadly rectangular, scaly plates; flakes off in

shapes like jigsaw puzzle pieces; older trees have a distinct yellow or orange color Branches: Descending to spreading-ascending; twigs stout (to 2 cm thick), orange-brown, aging darker orange-brown,

rough. Buds: Ovoid, to 2 cm, 1 cm broad, red-brown, very resinous; scale margins white-fringed Needles: Occur in bundles of 3 (rarely 2); 5-10" long; tufted near the ends of branches (needles are held only 2-3 years);

pliant, deep yellow-green; all surfaces with evident stomatal lines, Fruit: Egg-shaped cone; 3-5" long (much smaller than Jeffrey pine cones); scales in steep spirals; each scale has a straight,

stiff prickle that sticks out. Seeds: Ellipsoid-obovoid; body (3)4-9 mm, brown to yellow-brown, often mottled darker; wing 15-25 mmEthnobotany•This is the most commercially important western pine (Little 1980). Extensive harvest has eliminated vast acreages of old growth ponderosa.• The Nez Perce indians used to harvest the inner bark to feed their horses in early spring when better forage was still buried

deeply beneath the snows. The cambium would be scraped for food (often only in times of famine) by the Apache, Chiricahua, Mescalero, Navajo, Paiute, Klamath, Sanpoil, Spokan, Colville, Okanogan, and Thompson. Nearly everyone ate the seeds, usually roasted, sometimes ground into a flour. The pitch or sap was used by many tribes including the Cheyenne, Flathead, Okanogan, Colville, Paiute, and Thompson for a wide variety of purposes including as a salve or ointment for sores, boils, cuts and earache; to reduce inflammation of the eyes; to treat backache or rheumatism; and to pacify babies by spreading it on their skin. Decoctions of green leaves were put to similar uses. Many tribes used the pitch as a glue or sealer; the Cheyenne used it to tune flutes and whistles. The Digueno would make baskets from the needles and the Karok and Maidu would do the same with the roots. The wood was widely used in structures, to make dugout canoes, and for other uses such as cradle boards, ladders, and of course firewood (University of Michigan Ethnobotany Database

Pinus lambertiana Sugar pine Trees: To 260 ft tall and 11 ft cm in diameter, massive (the largest species in the genus), straight. Crown narrowly conic,

becoming rounded or flat-topped. Bark: Cinnamon - to gray-brown, deeply furrowed, plates long, scaly, broken into long plates on older trees (narrow plates on

young trees). Branches: Long, nearly horizontal, bearing cones near the ends, distal branches ascending. Twigs: Gray-green to red-tan, aging gray, mostly puberulent. Buds: Cylindro-ovoid, red-brown, to 8 mm, resinous. Needles: Occur in bundles of 5 per fascicle; 2-4" long; spreading to ascending, persisting 2-4 years; blue-green, abaxial

surface with only a few lines evident; adaxial surfaces with evident white stomatal lines white lines on all 3 surfaces of each 3-sided needle.

Fruit: Huge, woody cones, 10-20" long (larger than western white pine cones) and straight; ovulate cones maturing in 2 years, shedding seeds and falling soon thereafter, often clustered, pendent, symmetric, cylindric before opening Cone scales are thick and straight.

Seeds: Obovoid, oblique apically; body 1-2 cm, deep brown; wing broad, 2-3 cm.Ethnobotany•A "sugary" resin high in cyclitols exudes from the sweet-scented fresh-cut wood (Kral 1993).Muir (1894) reports: "The sugar, from which the common name is derived, is to my taste the best of sweets-better than maple sugar. It exudes from the heartwood, where wounds have been made, either by forest fires, or the ax, in the shape of irregular, crisp, candy-like kernels, which are crowded together in masses of considerable size, like clusters of resin-beads... Indians are fond of it, but on account of its laxative properties only small quantities may be eaten." David Douglas (1914) reports that indians gathered and ate the seeds. I have heard that heating the resin will caramelize the sugars and remove the laxative effect, and perhaps this is how it was historically prepared.•Logging practices of the early 20th century, at which time most of the big stands of old-growth sugar pine were logged, are described by Muir (1894), who notes that it was a sought-after species for shingles as well as lumber. It is currently valued timber tree due to its high dimensional stability, workability, and potentially rapid growth rate (Burns & Honkala 1990). However, harvest of sugar pine far exceeds regrowth (Kral 1993).

•Abies concolor White fir Trees: To 200 ft tall and 605 ft DBH; crown spirelike, becoming somewhat flat-topped with age. Bark: Gray, thin, smooth, with age thickening (to 18 cm) and breaking into deep longitudinal furrows, often

revealing yellowish inner periderm, appearing "corky." Branches: Diverging from trunk at right angles, the lower often spreading and drooping in age; twigs

mostly opposite, glabrous or with yellowish pubescence. Twigs: Terminal buds round and clustered, and covered with resin. Young twigs are greenish. Buds: Exposed, yellow to tan and either nearly conic (when large) or brown and nearly globose (when

small), resinous, apex rounded to pointed; Needles: Abaxial surface glaucous or not, with 4-8 stomatal rows on each side of midrib; adaxial surface

grayish green, glaucous or not, odor pungent. Fruit: Upright, cylindrical cones; 3-4" long; bracts shorter than scales. Fall apart when mature.

•var. lowiana•Adaxial (upper) surface at midleaf not glaucous, with about (5-)7(-9) rows of stomates; leaves 2-4(-6) cm; leaf apex of lower branches weakly notched; Sierra Nevada of California and Nevada, north coastal mountains of California.•var. concolor•Adaxial surface at midleaf glaucous, with about (7-)12(-18) rows of stomates; leaves (2-)4-6 cm; leaf apex of lower branches usually rounded; widespread in w US (Rocky Mts) but not in Sierra Nevada.

Abies magnifica × Abies procera Shasta red fir

• Synonyms: Abies magnifica var. shastensis, Abies magnifica var. magnifica, Abies magnifica, Abies × shastensis • Trees: To 200 ft tall and 7 ft DBH with narrowly conical crowns that become cylindrical and irregular with age. • Bark: First smooth, thin, gray, with resin blisters; with age thickening, turning red-brown, and becoming deeply furrowed

between broad ridges.• Twigs: Reddish-brown. Buds clustered at the terminal end are usually round and not covered by resin.• Needles: Dark blue-green, but the new growth silvery-glaucous; about 1" long; shaped like a hockey stick. Massed on the upper

surface of the twig. A tiny ridge runs the length of the upper side (compare with groove on noble fir); odor camphorlike;• Fruit: Large woody cones (6-9" long); cylindrical in shape; bracts are shorter than scales (therefore not visible). Fall apart when

mature.

There is a broad zone of introgressive hybridization between Abies magnifica andA. procera that includes the southern Cascades, the Klamath Mountains, and associated coastal ranges of southwestern Oregon and Coastal California. Trees in this zone display characters intermediate between the two species; the most conspicuous such character is a transition from exserted bracts (procera) to included bracts (magnifica) in the mature female cones. These intermediate trees have been described as A. magnifica var. shastensisLemmon (1890), a name now in wide use.

A. magnifica• Basal bud scales pubescent throughout; seed cones 15-20 cm, bracts included; adaxial surface of leaves usually without

longitudinal groove.

A. procera• Basal bud scales pubescent centrally, glabrous at margins; seed cones 10-15 cm, bracts exserted; adaxial surface of leaves

usually with longitudinal groove.

Taxaceae

Taxus brevifolia Pacific or western yew, mountain mahogany

Tree: Dioecious shrubs or small trees to 60 ft tall and 2 ft DBH; Trees grow very slowly and are very long lived--even a small tree may be several hundred years old (or more).

Bark: Scaly, outer scales purplish to purplish brown, inner ones reddish to reddish purple, Needles: Dark green above and lighter green below (never white); normally flattened; distinctly pointed

but never sharp to the touch. Fruit: A single seed surrounded by a soft, fleshy, bright red pulp (aril); not a cone; seeds are highly

poisonous!! Wood: hard and heavy

Taxus brevifolia Pacific or western yew, mountain mahogany

Ethnobotany•Native peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast considered yew wood very valuable, using it for weapons and implements that require strength and toughness. Most coastal peoples used it for harpoons, fish spears, fish clubs, and dip net frames. Yew wedges were used to split cedar; in the Hesquiat, Saechelt, Suquamish and Nootka languages its name means wedge-plant. The Swinomish, Tlingit and Haida made yew war clubs. The Klallam, Kwakiutl, Makah, Nootka and Quinault used it for canoe paddles. The Makah preferred it for canoe bailers, halibut hooks, spoons and dishes, and square trinket boxes that are burnt out of one piece, and have lids. The Quinault used it for canoe bailers, spoons, needles, mauls, various tool handles, spring poles for deer traps, awls, dishes, bowls, pegs, drum frames and boxes. The Quinault, Swinomish, and Cowlitz use it for the digging stick used for roots and clams. Combs are carved of yew by the Cowlitz and Quinault. The Quinault, Slahelem and Tillamook made gambling-tokens from yew. Numerous ceremonial objects were carved from yew (Gunther 1945, Hartzell 1991).•Yew also had many medicinal uses, many of a magical nature, using the tree to impart strength. "Smooth sticks of yew are used by a Swinomish youth to rub himself to gain strength. The Swinomish use boughs to rub themselves when bathing. The Chehalis crush the leaves and soak them in water which is used to bathe a baby or an old person. It is supposed to make them perspire and improve their condition. While the Chehalis never drink this water, the Klallam prepare leaves in the same way, boil them, and drink the infusion for any internal injury or pain. The Cowlitz moisten leaves of yew, grind them up, and apply the pulp to wounds. The Quinault chew the leaves and spit them on wounds. This stings, but is supposed to be very healing. They are the only tribe making medicinal use of the bark, which is peeled, dried, and boiled. The liquid is drunk as lung medicine" (Gunther 1945). The Makah and Nootka also used the needles to brew an astringent bath. Yew was smoked, alone or with other plants, by the Klallam, Samish, Swinomish and Snohomish (Gunther 1945, Hartzell 1991).•Nearly everyone who could collect or trade for it, used it for bows (its Haida name means bow-plant). Among the interior tribes (some living beyond its range) that valued yew bows were the Lilooet, Shuswap, Flathead Salish, Nez Perce, Kalapuya, Umpqua, Yurok, Hupa, Karok, Shasta, Maidu, Wintu and Yahi. Many of these tribes also used yew medicinally (Hartzell 1991).•At present, yew has little commercial importance except as a source of taxol (see below), but remains popular among a host of minor industries because it is still relatively plentiful in comparison with most of the world's yews. Thus, it is used to make lutes and other stringed instruments; it fills much of the world's limited demand for yew bows; the Japanese import it for for ceremonial toko poles; and it is used in naturopathic medicine. More traditionally, it has long been used by rural people in its native range for fenceposts, firewood, and tool handles (Hartzell 1991).•The bark is a natural source of taxol, a drug for treating various cancers (notably ovarian cancer); exploitation of the species for medicinal purposes formerly threatened it (Hils 1993), but a suitable drug substitute is now prepared from foliage gathered from cultivated European yew plants (Taxus baccata).

Cupressaceae Cypress Family

Calocedrus decurrens Incense-cedar Tree: To 160 ft tall and 10 ft DBH; aromatic; resinous; tapering; irregularly angled trunk and narrow; columnar

crown; becoming open and irregular. Bark: Light or reddish-brown, thick, fibrous, deeply and irregularly furrowed into shreddy ridges Twigs: much-branched and flattish Leaves: Scale-like evergreen; aromatic; appressed to twig; shiny, opposite in 4 rows, much longer than it is

wide (shaped like long-stemmed wine glass); little or no white pattern on underside. Fruit: Woody cones about 1" long; pendant at end of slender, leafy stalk; proximal scales often reflexed at cone

maturity; unopened cones are shaped like a duck's bill; open cones are shaped like a flying goose. Seeds: 4 or fewer in cone, paired with 2 unequal wings.

Ethnobotany•The tree is widely grown as a handsome ornamental. Formerly it was also an important timber species, much preferred for the manufacture of pencil due to its softness and isotropy. Although timber harvests have been reduced by depletion of old growth stands, its wood, exceptionally resistant to decay and highly durable when exposed to weather, is still useful for woodworking applications including cedar chests and closets.

Juniperus occidentalis western juniper Tree: To 80 ft tall and 7 ft DBH; monoecious or dioecious evergreen trees usually single-stemmed. Bark: Thin, reddish-brown, and fibrous or scaly Branches: Thick, ascending or spreading, often curved or contorted, the foliage branches forming dense rounded tufts at

the ends of the heavy main branches, forming a pyramidal crown in young trees, becoming rounded and irregular in old trees. Leaves: A combination of scale-like and awl-like needles on most branches; dark green; back of each needle has a white or

clear resin gland, conspicuous, often with yellow or white exudate; distinctive fragrance. Fruit: Seed cones maturing in 2 years, terminal on ultimate branchlets; from purple-red to blue or purple with a glaucous

bloom, subglobose to ellipsoid, fleshy or pulpy; more or less resinous; eventually dry; falling soon after ripe. Seeds: 1-2 per cone, ovoid or semi-ovoid.

Ethnobotany•Numerous cultivars of Juniperus species are widely used for landscaping (Adams 1993). Because the genus is widely distributed in semiarid regions (it grows particularly well on calcareous soils) and some are not particularly palatable to domestic goats, it often affords the only tree of size on the landscape, thus providing an important source of wood for construction, fuel and other domestic uses. The wood is fragrant, usually reddish or reddish-brown, easily worked, very durable, and rarely injured by insects (Dallimore et al. 1967). Its resistance to decay makes it particularly useful for fence posts and other ground-contact applications. However, it seldom achieves the size or straight grain needed in lumber. Many native peoples have used the aromatic foliage and resins for medicinal or spiritual purposes. "An essential oil is obtained by distillation from wood and leaves. That from the wood is often used for perfumery, sometimes in medicine. Oil from the leaves and shoots is also used in medicine. They have powerful diuretic properties and stock should not be allowed to eat branches" (Dallimore et al. 1967).•Wood and/or foliage are often burned for incense in Buddhist temples.•Cones of J. communis are used for flavoring gin.•"There are some commercial uses of juniper but profit margins are often marginal. To date, products include firewood, chips for particle-flake board and animal bedding, decking, interior paneling, doors, cabinetry, rustic furniture, picture frame molding, small gifts, Christmas decorations, and the female cones are used as flavoring for gin" (Miller et al. 2005). Recently, chipped for biomass-based electricity generation (Miller et al. 2005).

SOURCES:1: Gymnosperm Database 20162: Oregon Flora Project 20163: Calflora  20164: Conifers of the Pacific Slope Kauffmann, M; 2013

Hike Directions from Hgwy 66:Greensprings Rd to Moon Prairie Rd ( 40-3E-3.0); turn left; turns into Jenny Cr Rd; past Jenny Cr concrete bridge and up mt to 15.4 rd almost at ridgetop