Appearance
"P. ponderosa" is a large coniferous pine tree. The bark helps to distinguish it from other species. Mature to over-mature individuals have yellow to orange-red bark in broad to very broad plates with black crevices. Younger trees have blackish brown bark, referred to as "blackjacks" by early loggers.
Habitat
"P. ponderosa" is a dominant tree in the Kuchler plant association, the Ponderosa shrub forest. Like most western pines, the ponderosa generally is associated with mountainous topography but not always. In Nebraska it is found on breaks of the Niobrara River. Scattered stands occur in the Willamette Valley of Oregon and in both Washington's Puget Sound area and Okanagan Valley. It is found on the Black Hills; on foothills and mid-height peaks of the northern, central, and southern Rocky Mountains; in the Cascade Range; in the Sierra Nevada; and in the maritime-influenced Coast Range. In Arizona it predominates on the Mogollon Rim and is scattered on the Mogollon Plateau and on mid-height peaks in Arizona and New Mexico. It does not extend into Mexico.The fire cycle for ponderosa pines is five to 10 years, in which a natural ignition sparks a low-intensity fire.
"P. ponderosa" needles are the only known food of the caterpillars of the gelechiid moth "Chionodes retiniella". Blue stain fungus, "Grosmannia clavigera", is introduced in sapwood of "P. ponderosa" from the galleries of all species in the genus "Dendroctonus".
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