I am a richer person for having experienced Ponderosa pine, if the measure of wealth is the accumulation of delight.
Perhaps Pinus ponderosa is too commonplace to warrant such praise, but for all the tens of thousands of trees of it that I have seen, I've yet to regard it with the contempt of familiarity. Instead, I find some interest in each one that I can afford some attention to, which makes me a distracted driver on highways surrounded by it (I shouldn't be allowed to drive in the region of Spokane, Washington...).
Why the effusive praise? I love the warm, cinnamon plates of bark interrupted by the black vertical fissures, which I appreciate both from a distance and right up close (I'll feature a close-up photograph of the bark someday soon). I like to explore the stands of the trees; they are generously-spaced and airy, allowing sunlight to reach the forest floor. But most of all, I delight in walking up to a tree that is baking in the sun, sticking my nose right against the heated bark no matter who my company might be, and inhaling deeply the rich scent of vanilla with a hint of butterscotch. To me, this is priceless.
Photograph taken near Merritt, British Columbia, just outside of the Harmon Lake Demonstration Forest.
I was very happy to read your post. One of the most memorable and striking aspects of the visits I have made to the west(I'm from the eastern US) has been the ponderosa forests--the grand scale of them,the delightful aroma, and the interesting creatures that make their home there. Even after a fire, the burnt trunks retain the chathedral like grandeur.
Thanks for providing me with a moment for nostalgia.
Heather
thanks for that. a shared sentiment i could not have expressed as well as you did.
I lived in the country for 23 years in
GA. I moved to FL 4 years ago,and is now living in PA. When I saw this picture it remined me of when I used to live in the country. All of my childhood memories came back to me as I looked at this picture. Thank you for this, because this made my day.
Neat, a tree...
(seems I'm not as deep as the rest of you ^^)
Thanks for the attention to these oft-ignored beauties. There is one small stand of these trees on the southernmost peak of the extreme Southern Sierras. I love to hike to this stand and just sit there. These pines seem so regal next to the Bull pines and Pinyon pines. Do Pinus jeffreyi and Pinus ponderosa cross-pollinate? Our stand seems to be a mized bunch.
Sandy - Tehachapi, CA
Sandy, it took me a little while to track down, but yes, Pinus jeffreyi and Pinus ponderosa do form natural hybrids, although I'm not certain if the hybrid has been scientifically named.
The reference I tracked down was an article published in July, 1953, by Donald A. Johansen in Madroño, “A West American Journal of Botany” Vol. XII, Number 3, p. 92.
I think that Weeden's manual of Sierra Nevada Flora (one of my favorite field guides) mentions the P. ponderosa / P. jeffreyi hybrid and refers to it as Pinus washoensis, which is found in the eastern part of the Tahoe region of California.
The Pinus ponderosa x P. jeffreyi hybrid hasn't been formally named (not many hybrid pines have been).
Pinus washoensis is now regarded as a synonym of Pinus ponderosa; it was first noted by two Californian botanists as being very different from Californian Pinus ponderosa, but they didn't think to compare it with Pinus ponderosa from further northeast in the range (BC, interior WA, interior OR, ID); more recent investigations have shown that washoensis is the same as northern interior Pinus ponderosa.
The two forms are known in forestry publications as 'North Plateau Ponderosa' (Interior) and 'Pacific Ponderosa' (CA, western OR, western WA) respectively. Treated as botanically distinct taxa (which they appear to be), 'North Plateau Ponderosa' is Pinus ponderosa, while 'Pacific Ponderosa' has been named as Pinus benthamiana Hartweg; they would best be treated as subspecies, but the combination Pinus ponderosa subsp. benthamiana hasn't been formally published yet.
Ah yes, the smell of living pines. in the seventys,my small family lived on sixty acres on the snow line above placerville ca.,the sierras.
i am an avid tree climber, there is nothing like being 75' feet above the earth,legs wrapped around the highest bough, in a strong breeze,you can travel 5-6 feet from center.i'd stay there for hours. thanks !!phillip
I thoroughly enjoy hiking in pine stands, I seek out the Ponderosa/Jeffrey forests whenever I can because of their magnificient stature and aromatics. What's more, if there is a ground fire, and the undergrowth has not become too high or thick, they can withstand the heat because the bark is fireproof. What wonderful creatures!
I have heard that the vanilla smell is associated with Jeffrey pines, and that Ponderosa pines lack this property. Do Ponderosa pines really have the vanilla/pineapple smell?
"I am a richer person for having experienced Ponderosa pine, if the measure of wealth is the accumulation of delight."
How perfect! I love how the picture was taken in Merritt. I stopped there on my way to somewhere else, but ended up staying the night as i so enjoyed walking through the pine forests of that Interior Region...and now i have finally made it possible to live in near Merritt.
Lovely lovely - glad others enjoy these beauties! :)
I have a picture on my desk of my children smelling the poderosa just as you mentioned. This trick is one of my fondest childhood memories learned from a National Park ranger on one of the wilderness walks.
Thanks for the reminder. When my parents lived in Evergreen, CO, I would visit them & this was a predominant pine there. The Ponderosa would remind me of the Norway pine in our Northern Michigan clime, due to similarities in how the bark stands out, although the Norway [also called the Red Pine] has a pinkish-red color to it.
I will joint all of you poets when my ten Ponderosas I am raising here at Dominican Republic raise in my farm at Jarabacoa.
I fall in love with them too.
there every where in arizona becouse that state is located in the lagest streching ponderosa pine forest that means it has some of the ferstest air in the world
I have a small place in northern Arizona in the ponderosa pines and I feel great peace when I am among those fragrant pine friends.