knobcone pine Pinaceae Pinus attenuata

Leaf:Evergreen needles, commonly 4 to 5 inches (but may be 3 to 7), borne in bundles of 3; yellow-green, slender, stiff, and sometimes twisted; persist for 4 to 5 years.
Flower:Species is monoecious; male cones are brownish purple in tight clusters; females small, reddish purple.
Fruit:Large woody cones (4 to 6 inches long); egg-shaped to conical but with a distinctly asymmetrical base, large swollen knobs on one side of the base; often grow in dense clusters of 3 to 6 and remain on the tree unopened until a fire occurs; sometimes completely overgrown by the branches and trunk; mature by late summer of their second year.
Twig:Moderately stout, reddish brown and often resinous.
Bark:Young bark is thin, flaky, and is gray-brown with an orange or red tinge; older bark is furrowed with flattened ridges and somewhat scaly; gray-red-brown.
Form:A small conifer (most often less than 50 feet tall and 12 inches in diameter); often with poor form and multiple, twisted tops.

leaf flower fruit twig bark form map

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