Pinus ponderosa
Common name
Ponderosa pine
Family
Pinaceae
Flora category
Vascular – Exotic
Structural class
Trees & Shrubs - Gymnosperms
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
Habitat
Terrestrial.
Features
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 2cm long and in clusters on young shoots. Female cones are quite large, 6-14 by 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.
Flower colours
No flowers
Year naturalised
1925
Origin
Western N. America
Reason For Introduction
Forestry
Life Cycle Comments
Perennial
Reproduction
seed.
Dispersal
wind