Also called bull pine, ◼︎ blackjack pine and ◼︎ western yellow pine.

Part of 🌲︎ pine  genus Pinus in 🌲︎ cedar / fir / hemlock / larch / pine / spruce  family Pinaceae in 🌲︎ conifer  order Pinales.


Native to western coastal and 🗻︎ mountainous 🇨🇦 🇺🇸 Canada and USA.

🗺 Map (scroll down), 🗺 map (North America, Central America).  Adobe Acrobat Reader file

Invasive > Hawai'i

🏛🌲︎ Provincial tree of Alberta.

In this area (particularly 🇨🇦 Canada AB BC SK, and 🇺🇸 USA AZ CA CO ID MO MT NV NM OR SD UT WA WI WY):

  • do not move pine logs, stumps, branches, firewood nor untreated lumber
due to possible infestation by the insect mountain pine beetle (MPB)  Dendroctonus ponderosae, which carries various species of 🍄︎ fungus / mushroom  kingdom Fungi.

Uses by native peoples
(Ethnobotany database)

Pinus hosts caterpillars of 247 species
of butterflies and moths, in some areas.
  This plant is also known to be a host for (in areas where invasive) 🐝︎ spotted lanternfly (SLF)  Lycorma delicatula.

Lodgepole pine has closed, serotinous cones, that require 🔥︎ fire to open the cones and 🌱︎ allow the seeds to ger­mi­nate.

It is also the primary tree in 🏞 Yellowstone National Park, where after a century of fire suppression, lodgepole pine was aging out — on the way to being replaced by other species.  Until the 🔥︎ Yellowstone fires of 1988 swept through — although the fires killed many adult trees, it allowed the 🌱︎🌱︎ new generation to ger­mi­nate and grow.

Learn more about lodgepole pine Pinus contorta

🔍︎ 🔍︎ images Discover Life Encyclopedia of Life Gymnosperm database Flora of North America USDA PLANTS db USFS USFS Silvics Wikipedia