California, Nevada & Utah

5 Needle Pine Regional Key

This region includes the states of California, Nevada, and Utah. Seven species of 5 needle pine are known to occur in this region: Foxtail Pine (Pinus balfouriana), Great Basin Bristlecone Pine (Pinus longaeva), Limber pine (Pinus flexilis), Sugar Pine (P. lambertiana), Torrey Pine (Pinus torreyana), Western White Pine (Pinus monticola), and Whitebark Pine (Pinus albicaulis). Note that the only 5 needle pines known to occur in Utah are Limber Pine and Great Basin Bristlecone Pine. A dichotomous key to the 5 needle pines of this region is provided below. Many of leads in the key follow from Kral et al. (2022). Photos of seed cones of the 5 needle pines in this region are presented below the key.

Pinus albicaulis (Whitebark Pine). Photo by Aaron Wells.
Pinus flexilis (Limber Pine). Photo by Steven B Brown_CCBY-NC.
Pinus monticola (Western White Pine). Photo by John D Reynolds_CCBY-NC
Pinus_lambertiana (Sugar Pine). Photo by John Waaben CCBY-NC.
Torrey Pine. Photo by Dylan Winkler CC BY-NC.
Great Basin Bristlecone Pine. Photo by Peri Lee CCBY-NC.
Immature seed code of Foxtail Pine showing the characteristic sunken umbos. Photo by Jeff Bisbee CCBY-NC.
Photos of immature female cones of 5 needle pines in the California, Nevada & Utah region.

Literature Cited

Kral, R. 2022. Pinus. In: Flora of North America Editorial Committee, eds. 1993+. Flora of North America North of Mexico [Online]. 22+ vols. New York and Oxford. Vol. 2. http://beta.floranorthamerica.org/Pinus. Accessed [2022-09-11].

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