Pinus ponderosa
Environmental Weed (2024)
Common names
ponderosa pine, western yellow pine
Biostatus
Exotic
Category
Vascular
Structural class
Trees & Shrubs - Gymnosperms
Flower colours
No flowers
Detailed description
Medium to large tree, (exceeding 30 m in cultivation). Needles are 25 cm long, rigid, dull-green, in bunches of 3, projecting forward. male cones are purple coloured, up to 2 cm long and in clusters on young shoots. Female cones 6–14 × 5–10 cm, egg shaped and each scale has a small spiny tip.
Similar taxa
Long needles in clusters of 3. Cones shed annually but leaving basal scales. Similar to P. taeda and P. elliottii but both of these species shed cones entire, and the cones of P. ponderosa are more ovoid.
Habitat
Terrestrial.
Conservation status
Not applicable
Detailed taxonomy
Family
Ecology
Year naturalised
1925
Origin
Western N. America
Reason for introduction
Forestry
Life cycle and dispersal
Perennial; seed is wind dispersed.
Other information
Extra information
The National Wilding Conifer Control Programme team at Biosecurity New Zealand, a branch of Ministry for Primary Industries, has produced this wilding conifer quick ID guide.
Environmental Weed (2024)
This plant is named in a list of 386 environmental weeds in New Zealand 2024 prepared by DOC. 759 candidate species were considered for inclusion on this new comprehensive list of environmental weeds in New Zealand. The species considered were drawn from published lists of weed species, lists of plants that must be reported or managed by law if observed, existing national and regional programmes and agreements for pest management, and species already managed by the Department of Conservation (DOC). Candidate species were then assessed to see if they were fully naturalised and whether they have more than minor impacts in natural ecosystems. Read the full report here.
NVS code
The National Vegetation Survey (NVS) Databank is a physical archive and electronic databank containing records of over 94,000 vegetation survey plots - including data from over 19,000 permanent plots. NVS maintains a standard set of species code abbreviations that correspond to standard scientific plant names from the Ngä Tipu o Aotearoa - New Zealand Plants database.
PINPON