Conifer Identification

Notes from the 4th class of the Botany Conservation Course 

by Course Volunteer Phyllis Daniels & Course Coordinator Mary Kiesau

Susan Ballinger, Wenatchee-area naturalist and educator and creator of The Wenatchee Naturalist course, was the fourth speaker in the Methow Conservancy's 2014 Methow Conservation Course “Botany: The Basics & Beyond.”  This is the 10th annual course.

Susan started the class off with some information about the Washington Native Plant Society and a quick overview of a conifer key, which is ordered according to their evolutionary development.  

Male pine "cones" aka strobili will release pollen.

Conifers are gymnosperms which means “naked seed.”  Unlike angiosperms (the flowering plants we studied in the previous three classes), conifer seeds are not contained within an ovary (aka not covered with fruit).  The seeds are born in cones and on scales.  Most conifers are evergreen (except Larch in our area) and have needle or scale-like “leaves.”  Most conifers bear both male and female cones.  The smaller male cones called strobili produce pollen. While the female cone produces seeds.  The female cone receives pollen by way of the wind. 

Conifers have developed from uncertain conditions; they can tolerate badly drained soil; they have adapted to wildfire; they are sun seekers; and can grow tall and massive.  In the world’s forests most trees are broadleaf.  Because of low humidity, weeks of drought, with a mostly cool winter the Pacific Northwest has mostly conifers. 

From top left clockwise: Ponderosa, Lodgepole, Whitebark and Western White

There are 3 families of conifers in WA state and 19 native conifers in the Pacific Northwest.  They are:

•       PINE Family

–      4 true fir (Abies)

–      2 larch (Larix)

–      2 spruce (Picea)- 1 only coastal

–      4 pine (Pinus)

–      1 false hemlock (Psudotsuga)

–      2 hemlock (Tsuga)

•       CYPRESS Family           

–      1 white-cedar (Chamaecyparis)

–      1 juniper (Juniperus)

–      1 cedar (Thuja)

•       YEW Family- 1 yew (Taxus)

Young trees often look different and have differing characteristics than the adult trees that they grow into, so to keep up with the incredible variety we must keep in mind some other factors:

There are 3 habitats for conifers in our area of the Pacific Northwest

•   Eastside Low Montane Forest: 1800-3000 ft; gets 15-30” of precipitation; main conifers that we find at this elevation have all adapted in some way to frequent wildfires.  They are the Ponderosa Pine, Western Larch, Douglas Fir, Grand Fir, and Lodgepole Pine.

•   East-side High Montane Forest: 4000- 6000 ft. - gets 35-50” of precipitation; the main conifers are Subalpine Fir, Engelmann Spruce, Western Larch and Lodgepole Pine.

•   Subalpine: 6000 ft. - the closed canopy disappears and the weather is windy and dry.  Growing there are Subalpine Fir, Whitebark Pine, Subalpine Larch, and to a lesser degree Mountain Hemlock and Yellow Cedar.

Common Characteristics of our Primary Conifers

Western White Pine

·         Needles are clusters of 5, whitish blue green, slender and flexible, 2.5 - 4 inches long. They are lined with tiny teeth so feel rough.  

·         Tree shape is narrow open crowns with regularly spaced whorls of branches extending from main trunk. 

·         Cones are long (6-11”), curved, slender, and have pitchy scales.

·         Bark is gray and thin. Mature tree bark appears checkered. Sap weeps and orange needles indicate blister rust infection.

Whitebark Pine

Whitebark Pine

·         Needles are clusters of 5; yellow-green color, stiff and short (1.5 – 2.5 inches).

·         Confined to the timberline zone in the Cascades it takes on stunted growth with shrubby forms on snowbound windy sites.  

·         Bark is gray and scaly

·         Cones are egg-shaped and 2-3 ½ inches long.  They remain closed on tree when ripe and rely on an unusual symbiotic relationship with the Clark’s Nutcracker bird to disperse its seeds.  Because of the birds habit of burying a cache of these seeds the trees tend to grow in clumps or groups.  The cones are an important food for the grizzly bear.

Ponderosa Pine

·         Needles in clusters of 3 (sometimes 2), dark green and very long (5-10”).  

·         Mature trees have broad crowns of regular whorls of long limbs. As they grow, they shed their bottom branches as an adaptation to fire which is hindered from reaching the crown and forced to stay low to the ground.  

·         Bark is gray brown when young and becomes red-brown and deeply furrowed when mature.  Large trees shed the bark in jigsaw puzzle plates with a corky texture that are resistant to burning.  Once burned the area weeps causing a “catface” that serves as insulation.

·         Cones are egg shaped, symmetrical, 3-5 inches long with prominent prickly scales.  Male strobili are purple

Lodgepole Pine

Lodgepole Pine

·         Needles are in bundles of 2, are yellow-green and 2”  long.

·         Bark is thin, gray-red/brown, scaly and pitchy

·         Cones are usually bent and narrowly egg-shaped. 1-1/2-2 inches.  Sharp prickle on back of cone scale.  Can remain closed on tree for several years until burned.

·         Trees are relatively short-lived (ave age 60 yrs) and have a small and slender form in forested habitats, rounded crown in open habitats.

·         Adapted to stand-replacement wildfires: -- their serotinous cones open only when heated by fire. Seeds then spread & grow in full sun

Western Larch

·         Needles are deciduous, in soft fine clusters of 25-40 on little woody spurs on branch.  Triangular, bright yellow-green,

·         The tree has a tall narrow pointed crown.

·         Cones are small (1 – 1.5”) with long bracts that extend beyond scales.

·         Bark thick, deeply furrowed, flakes into orange brown plates. At base, thick and corky and fire resistant.  Rapidly grows tall into a high open canopy.

Subalpine Larch

·         Needles are like Western Larch needles but are in smaller clusters (20 – 30 needles), are 4-sided, are blue green, and are marked on all sides by white rows of stomata.

·         Bark is yellow-brown, furrowed and thin, and broken into large loose scales.

·         Cones are same size as W. Larch, are rounded and deep purple, covered in wooly hairs, bracts longer than scales, end in long spikes.

·         New shoots are covered with fine, white, wooly hairs, unlike W. Larch.

Sharp Spruce Needles

Engelmann Spruce

·         For Spruces think about Ss. Needles are sharp, and square (you can’t roll them between your fingers) and short.

·         For Engelmann spruce, needles are blue-green with whitish bands, about 1” long and they extend from all sides of a twig.

·         Cones hang down like a pendant, are oblong, 1-21/2” long, scales diamond shaped and ragged at tips; rubbing them sounds like paper. 

·         Bark is thin, dark purple/reddish-brown; in loose scales that flake off easily

Douglas Fir (aka False Hemlock)

·         Not a true fir.

3-pronged bracts extend beyond cone scales.

·         Needles are soft (fir think fur) and scattered singly over the twigs, often in rows on opposite sides of the twigs, length varies around 1” long, mostly blunt at apex, yellow or blue green.

·         Bark is dark brown to black, deeply furrowed & thick

·         Cones are 3-4” long, oblong to cylindric, pendant with a three-lobed bract that extends past the cone scale (looks like a mouse feet and tail)

·         Best field ID mark:  there’s a spear-like tip at the end of every branch – touch the tip to feel a poke (true firs have rounded tip)

Western Hemlock

·         Needles dark green on top, whitish below; variable length up to 1 inch.  Project outward on the sides of twigs, making branches look flattened & spraylike.

·         Cones are small, up to 1 inch long, and almost as wide.

·         Bark is dark gray-brown & heavily furrowed, but only 1-inch thick. Inner layers dark red to purple.

·         At tree-top, bent over leader.

Mountain Hemlock

Mountain Hemlock

·         Needles -- scattered singly and project from all sides of the twigs (looks like it has crazy hair), about ¾ inch pale green or whitish on both sides b/c of rows of stomata on both surfaces. 

·         Bark is dark reddish purplish brown, deeply divided by rounded scaly ridges.

·         Cone is broadly cylindrical 1-2” long.

·         At timberline, grows in a shrubby form.

True Firs have:

•       Cylindrical cones stiffly erect on horizontal branches near the top.

•       Different pattern of foliage on cone-bearing branches (denser) 

•       Cones stand upright on tree, are purple and sappy when young, and then scales open and fall away, leaving the stalk of the cone standing upright

•       Young fir trunks have resin-filled blisters on smooth bark.

Pacific Silver Fir

·         Needles flattened, blunt, 1-inch long, glossy green on top, silvery white on rows of stomata on underside (2 bands).  Neatly arranged with 3 rows of needles: one row each project horizontally from opposite sides of twig, and one row runs along the top of the stem.

·         Bark-- ashy gray with lichen blotches, thin and smooth with resin blisters becomes scaly on old trees.

·         Cone is upright cylindrical, 3 ½ - 6”, deep purple and smooth.  

·         Key field ID mark:  Looking down on branch, the stem is hidden from view; unlike grand fir with brown stem always visible

fir cones stand upright and are purple and sappy

Subalpine Fir

·         Needle tips rounded, whitish on both sides, <1 inch.  One white band above, 2 white bands below.  Growing on all sides of the twig-on short, stiff horizontal branches all the way to the ground.

·         Cones are 2.5 – 4”, deep purple, often covered with an “icing” of shiny resin.

·         Bark is thin, smooth, light grey. 

·         In rocks & on ridge tops, takes on shrubby form

·         Slender cone-shape sheds snow.

Grand Fir

·         Needles are flat, blunt, dark shiny green above & whitish (2 bands) on underside, >1 inch long.  Spread in two regular comb-like rows from opposite sides of twig
in a “two-ranked” array.

·         Cones are 3-5 inches, greenish. Sit upright, but sometimes tip sideways due to weight.

·         Bark is thick, furrowed, divided into narrow flat plates. In young trees-dark, gray, & thin.

·         Fire-ladder, due to low branches

Red Cedar

Western Red Cedar

·         Needles are scale-like, oval, lying flat against the twig, opposite in 4 rows, rounded on back & sharp pointed, and dark yellow green.

·         Branches are spray-like, spreading down & outward.

·         Bark is thin, ridged and fissured; is grayish to reddish brown.  Mature tree bark can be peeled off in long thin strips

·         Cones are small, woody, egg-shaped, less than ½-inch thick. 

Alaska Cedar

•       Needles are scalelike, opposite in 4 rows. Prickly tip, Keeled ridge on back. Dark bluish-green. 1/8-inch.  Branch in flat fern-like sprays.  After 2 years, needles turn yellow-brown for 1 year before being shed.

•       Cones are woody, rounded, <1/2 inch thick.

•       Bark is shaggy & gray, hanging in loose rough pieces, but will not peel off into strips.

•       Thrives in cold, wet, climate.  Deep snowfall insulates tree from extreme cold.

•       Slow-growing-often at upper limit of trees, avalanche chutes, bogs, or rocky crags.

Pacific Yew

·         Needles are flat with pointed tips; arranged in two rows, one along each side of the twig; dark green above, paler below (no white bands), ¾ - 1” long.

·         Bark is reddish brown, thin, broken by broad fissures into red to purplish scaly ridges.

·         Small low-spreading tree 20-50 feet tall with asymmetrical form, often branching to the ground, in understory of moist, mature and shady conifer forest and along streams at low to mid elevations.

·         Cone is hidden in a rounded scarlet, fleshy berry-like-cups (an aril); open at one end.

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Next week’s class is on Ethnobotany.