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Pinaceae FAMILY Least Concern

Pinus contorta

Pinus contorta

Edibility
3/5
Medicinal
2/5

Safety & Hazards

The wood, sawdust and resins from various species of pine can cause dermatitis in sensitive people[1].

Cultivation Details

HabitEvergreen Tree
GrowthFast

Pinus contorta contorta is a moderately cold-hardy plant, able to tolerate temperatures down to around -15°c when fully dormant. It occupies a vast latitudinal range in western N. America, from Alaska in the north to California in the south. Consequently it has a wide ecological amplitude and grows form near sea level to 600 metres or perhaps higher. Mean annual precipitation can be as high as 5,000mm along the northern coast[2, 3, 4]. Requires a sunny position. Thrives in a light well-drained sandy or gravelly loam[5, 6]. Plants are often found in infertile soils in the wild[4]. Dislikes poorly drained moorland soils[5]. Tolerates water-logged soils[7]. Succeeds in exposed maritime positions[8, 7]. Established plants tolerate drought[9]. Pinus contorta var. contorta is fire successional. It is mostly a low-quality tree for timber use[2]. The coastal form of this species is a very fast growing tree, especially when young, with new growth of 1 metre or more per year[10]. The forms from coastal Washington and Oregon do best in Britain. New growth takes place from mid spring until mid summer185]. Trees are long-lived, with specimens 600 years old recorded[11]. Trees can be shrubby in habit when they are grown on poor sites[9]. There are some named forms, selected for their ornamental value[12]. Plants are strongly outbreeding, self-fertilized seed usually grows poorly[9]. They hybridize freely with other members of this genus[9]. Trees come into flower at an early age, usually between 6 and 10 years[11]. Good seed crops are produced every 1 - 3 years[11]. The cones are 2 - 5cm long[13]. They take two growing seasons to ripen then some of them will open and shed their seed whilst still attached to the tree, whilst others will remain unopened on the tree, preserving the vitality of the seeds until they are stimulated to open by excessively hot weather or a forest fire[13, 14, 11, 2]. Plants in this genus are notably susceptible to honey fungus[9].

Propagation

It is best to sow the seed in individual pots in a cold frame as soon as it is ripe if this is possible otherwise in late winter. A short stratification of 6 weeks at 4°c can improve the germination of stored seed[15]. Plant seedlings out into their permanent positions as soon as possible and protect them for their first winter or two[6]. Plants have a very sparse root system and the sooner they are planted into their permanent positions the better they will grow[PFAF]. Trees should be planted into their permanent positions when they are quite small, between 30 and 90cm[9]. We actually plant them out when they are about 5 - 10cm tall. So long as they are given a very good weed-excluding mulch they establish very well[PFAF]. Larger trees will check badly and hardly put on any growth for several years. This also badly affects root development and wind resistance[9]. Cuttings. This method only works when taken from very young trees less than 10 years old. Use single leaf fascicles with the base of the short shoot. Disbudding the shoots some weeks before taking the cuttings can help. Cuttings are normally slow to grow away[7]. Cite as: Temperate Plants Database, Ken Fern. temperate.theferns.info. 2026-02-21. <temperate.theferns.info/plant/Pinus+contorta>

Pollinators

Wind

References

  1. [1]A Field Guide to Medicinal Plants. Eastern and Central N. America. — Foster. S. & Duke. J. A. · Houghton Mifflin Co. · 1990 · ISBN 0395467225 ↩︎A concise book dealing with almost 500 species. A line drawing of each plant is included plus colour photographs of about 100 species. Very good as a field guide, it only gives brief details about the plants medicinal properties.
  2. [2]Flora of N. America — http://flora.huh.harvard.edu/fna/ ↩︎An on-line version of the flora with an excellent description of the plant including a brief mention of plant uses.
  3. [3]The Gymnosperm Database — http://www.conifers.org/index.htm ↩︎A vast amount of information on conifers and families of gymnosperms.
  4. [4]IUCN Red List of Threatened Species — http://www.iucnredlist.org/ ↩︎A list of plants under threat and facing possible extinction, usually with brief details of the threats and information on habitat.
  5. [5]RHS Dictionary of Plants plus Supplement. 1956 — F. Chittendon. · Oxford University Press · 1951 · ISBN - ↩︎Comprehensive listing of species and how to grow them. Somewhat outdated, it has been replaced in 1992 by a new dictionary (see [ 200 ]).
  6. [6]Trees and Shrubs Hardy in Great Britain. Vol 1 - 4 and Supplement. — Bean. W. · Murray · 1981 · ISBN - ↩︎A classic with a wealth of information on the plants, but poor on pictures.
  7. [7]Conifers. — Rushforth. K. · Christopher Helm · 1987 · ISBN 0-7470-2801-X ↩︎Deals with conifers that can be grown outdoors in Britain. Good notes on cultivation and a few bits about plant uses.
  8. [8]Shrubs for the Milder Counties. — Arnold-Forster. ↩︎Trees and shrubs that grow well in Cornwall and other mild areas of Britain. Fairly good, a standard reference book.
  9. [9]The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. — Huxley. A. · MacMillan Press · 1992 · ISBN 0-333-47494-5 ↩︎Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed.
  10. [10]Conifers in the British Isles. — Mitchell. A. F. · HMSO · 1975 · ISBN 0-11-710012-9 ↩︎A bit out of date (first published in 1972), but an excellent guide to how well the various species of conifers grow in Britain giving locations of trees.
  11. [11]The Complete Trees of N. America. Field Guide and Natural History. — Elias. T. · Van Nostrand Reinhold Co. · 1980 · ISBN 0442238622 ↩︎A very good concise guide. Gives habitats, good descriptions, maps showing distribution and a few of the uses. It also includes the many shrubs that occasionally reach tree proportions.
  12. [12]The RHS Gardener's Encyclopedia of Plants and Flowers — Brickell. C. · Dorling Kindersley Publishers Ltd. · 1990 · ISBN 0-86318-386-7 ↩︎Excellent range of photographs, some cultivation details but very little information on plant uses.
  13. [13]Manual of the Trees of N. America. — Sargent. C. S. · Dover Publications Inc. New York. · 1965 · http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/ · ISBN 0-486-20278-X ↩︎Two volumes, a comprehensive listing of N. American trees though a bit out of date now. Good details on habitats, some details on plant uses. Not really for the casual reader. It can be downloaded from the internet.
  14. [14]Identification Guide to the Trees of Canada — Lauriault. J. · Fitzhenry and Whiteside, Ontario. · 1989 · ISBN 0889025649 ↩︎Very good on identification for non-experts, the book also has a lot of information on plant uses.
  15. [15]Hardy Woody Plants from Seed. — McMillan-Browse. P. · Grower Books · 1985 · ISBN 0-901361-21-6 ↩︎Does not deal with many species but it is very comprehensive on those that it does cover. Not for casual reading.
  16. [16]Invasive Species Compendium — http://www.cabi.org ↩︎An immense resource - in depth information on over 900 species of invasive plants (it also has information on animals, fungi etc).
  17. [17]Sturtevant's Edible Plants of the World. — Hedrick. U. P. · Dover Publications · 1972 · ISBN 0-486-20459-6 ↩︎Lots of entries, quite a lot of information in most entries and references.
  18. [18]Common Edible and Useful Plants of the West. — Sweet. M. · Naturegraph Co. · 1962 · ISBN 0-911010-54-8 ↩︎Useful wild plants in Western N. America. A pocket guide.
  19. [19]Tanaka's Cyclopedia of Edible Plants of the World. — Tanaka. T. & Nakao S. · Keigaku Publishing; Tokyo · 1976 · ISBN - ↩︎The most comprehensive list of edible plants I've come across. Only the briefest entry for each species, though, and some of the entries are more than a little dubious. Not for the casual reader.
  20. [20]Food Plants of the N. American Indians. — Yanovsky. E. · U.S. Depf of Agriculture. · ISBN - ↩︎A comprehensive but very terse guide. Not for the casual reader.
  21. [21]Native American Ethnobotany — Moerman. D. · Timber Press. Oregon. · 1998 · ISBN 0-88192-453-9 ↩︎Very comprehensive but terse guide to the native uses of plants. Excellent bibliography, fully referenced to each plant, giving a pathway to further information. Not for the casual reader.
  22. [22]Plants for Human Consumption. — Kunkel. G. · Koeltz Scientific Books · 1984 · ISBN 3874292169 ↩︎An excellent book for the dedicated. A comprehensive listing of Latin names with a brief list of edible parts.
  23. [23]A Modern Herbal. — Grieve. · Penguin · 1984 · ISBN 0-14-046-440-9 ↩︎Not so modern (1930's?) but lots of information, mainly temperate plants.
  24. [24]Nature's Colors - Dyes from Plants. — Grae. I. · MacMillan Publishing Co. New York. · 1974 · ISBN 0-02-544950-8 ↩︎A very good and readable book on dyeing.
  25. [25]Vegetable Gums and Resins. — Howes. F. N. · Faber · ISBN 81-88818-17-8 ↩︎A very good book dealing with the subject in a readable way.
  26. [26]Plants in British Columbian Indian Technology. — Turner. N. J. · British Columbia Provincial Museum · 1979 · ISBN 0-7718-8117-7 ↩︎Excellent and readable guide.
  27. [27]Vascular Plants of the Pacific Northwest. — Hitchcock. C. L. · University of Washington Press · 1955 · ISBN - ↩︎A standard flora for Western N. America with lots of information on habitat etc. Five large volumes, it is not for the casual reader.
  28. [28]Economic Botany. — Hill. A. F. · The Maple Press · 1952 · ISBN - ↩︎Not very comprehensive, but it is quite readable and goes into some detail about the plants it does cover.
  29. [PFAF]Plants for a Future — pfaf.org ↩︎