Foxtail Pine

(Pinus balfouriana)

Color Photographs: © by and courtesy of Charles Webber, California Academy of Sciences

Foxtail Pine (Pinus balfouriana.)

Identifying Characters: Foxtail Pine is characterized by the bundles of 5 needles, the deciduous sheath, the elongate, cylindrical cones, the needles crowded against the twig, and the absence of elongate spines at the apices of the cone scales.

Similar Species: This species within its range might be mistaken for Whitebark Pine or Intermountain Bristlecone Pine. Foxtail Pine can be distinguished from Whitebark Pine by its much shorter needles (1 to 1.5 inches versus 1.5 to 2.5 inches in Whitebark Pine) and the globular, not cylindrical cones of Whitebark Pine. The cone scales of Intermountain Bristlecone Pine have very long terminal, hooked spines. The terminal spine in Foxtail Pine, in contrast, is very small.

Measurements: Height of mature individuals averaging 30-40 feet, but occasional individuals reaching 90 feet; diameter generally 1 to 2 feet with large individuals reaching 5 feet.

Cones: Cones 3.5 to 5 inches long, cylindrical and tapered at the apex; scales with a minute apical spine; ripe cones dark purple turning dark red or mahogany after opening.

Needles: Needles in bundles of 5 with sheath shed after the first year; needles short, 1 to 1.5 inches long, stout, rigid; needles dark green and lustrous on the dorsal surface and with fine white lines on the ventral surface; needles crowded in a long, dense mass against the twig.

Bark: Bark on older trees 0.75 inches thick, dark red-brown, and deeply divided into broad, flat ridges broken into nearly square plates separating on the surface into small, crowded scales; bark on younger trees thin, smooth, and milky white.

Native Range: Foxtail Pine has a spotty distribution in the mountains of northern California and the Sierra Nevada Mountains of east-central California.(Silvics of North America. 1990. Agriculture Handbook 654.)

Habitat: Foxtail Pine is a high, montane species occurring on exposed, rocky slopes in the subalpine and timberline zones. The tree occurs with Whitebark Pine in this habitat and is sometimes found in small groves of trees.