Ponderosa Pine Trees
Ponderosa pines covered in frost. I'd bet when wooden ship builders stumbled across eastern Washington they must have just about wee'd in their pants - as far as the eye can see big, tall, straight trees. Everywhere you look a perfect mast.
Interestingly enough, I've done a bit more research and can't find any mention of using ponderosas as ships masts. They seem so ideal to me - very tall, with many being arrow straight and with few side branches, mostly near the top, but they must have other qualities that make them less than ideal. I did read that the wood is soft, so perhaps they are simply not strong enough. They are rather majestic trees and the sparse dry forests that they exist in are one of my favorite landscapes. In the summer, when it is hot, they smell absolutely delicious.
"Pinus ponderosa", commonly known as the ponderosa pine, bull pine, blackjack pine, or western yellow pine, is a very large pine tree of variable habit native to the western United States and Canada. It grows in various erect forms from British Columbia southward and eastward through 16 western states.
