Pinus attenuata
Common name: 
Knobcone Pine
Pronunciation: 
PI-nus at-ten-u-a-TA
Family: 
Pinaceae
Genus: 
Type: 
Conifer
Native to (or naturalized in) Oregon: 
Yes
  • Conifer, evergreen, small-medium, 30-50(70) ft [14-15(21) m] high, rapid growing, narrow pointed crown, often with 2-3 trunks, nearly horizontal branches turned up at the end, becoming irregular with age, abundant cones.   Bark gray and smooth, later dark gray, fissured into scaly ridges.  Needles are in bundles of 3, 7.5-18 cm long, slender and flexible, green or yellow-green.  Female cones, 8 to 15 cm long, ovoid-conic, yellowish-brown, asymmetrical at the base, curved, scales on the exposed convex side have raised, knob-like projections, scales on the inner or stem side are more or less flat, in clusters of 3 to 6, or more than double this, not near ends of branches.  The cones are closed for years, even 30, and if fact they may become embedded within the expanding branch or trunk.  Knobcone pine has been called the "tree that swallows its cones".  The heat of a fire causes the cones to open and shed their seeds.  Numerous seedlings then begin a new forest.
  • Sun.  Best in well-drained, gravelly to sandy, moist soil.   Not used often in landscaping, but interesting in naturalized settings.
  • Hardy to USDA Zone 7         Native from Oregon's McKenzie River south through the Klamath, Cascade, and Coast ranges and the Sierra Nevada and south in widely discontinuous populations to near Encinada, Baja California.  Found at elevations between sea level and 5,500 feet (1,700 m).
  • attenuata: slenderly tapering
  • Oregon State Univ., Peavy Arboretum.
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  • plant habit

    plant habit

  • branches

    branches

  • plant habit and branches

    plant habit and leaves, fall

  • shoot tips, spring

    shoot tips, spring

  • plant habit, mature tree

    plant habit, mature tree

  • branch with cones

    branch with cones

  • cones attachment

    cones attachment

  • needles and cones

    needles and cones

  • cones

    cones

  • trunk, bark

    trunk, bark