Pine Primer for the San Gabriel Mountains

Pine Primer for the San Gabriel Mountains

Key
Descriptions
Sources
Pines are recognized by their evergreen, long, round, and thin needle-like leaves found in bundles wrapped in a papery sheath or sleeve.
These are the pine tree species native to the San Gabriel Mountains. If you find a pine that does not fit anything in the key or descriptions, chances are you found it along a paved road, or at a camp or picnic ground and the tree has been planted by the US Forest Service.
Bark texture and color change with age; texture is smooth and color is light when young, aging to rough, scaly and furrowed in texture and darker in color when old.
The number of records is an rough indicator of frequency. You are almost sure to see those with the largest number of observation records. Those with few records, in this case, are difficult to get to!
In the key below, remember that the leaves are needle-like.

Key
1. Is there only one leaf in the bundle?

Yes. It is Pinyon Pine Pinus monophylla
No. Go to 2.

2. Are there two leaves in the bundle?

Yes. It is Lodgepole Pine Pinus contorta subspecies murrayana.
No. Go to 3.
3. Are there three leaves in the bundle?

Yes. Are the leaves somewhat longer than the span of an adult hand (more than 10 inches) and the cones very large with big hooks?

Yes. Is the trunk forked and the foliage wispy?

Yes. It is Gray Pine Pinus sabiniana.
No. It is Coulter Pine Pinus coulteri.

No. Go to 4.
4. There are two species in this branch of the key, Ponderosa Pine and Jeffrey Pine, P. ponderosa and P. jeffreyi, that cannot easily be separated by a simple one line couplet. Brief descriptions are given below for each, but it is far better to consult our detailed page on these two species. See also our latest map of the distribution of Ponderosa pine in the San Gabriel Mountains, along with a slightly older map that has some additional comments on it.

No. Go to 5.
5. There are two species in this branch of the key, Limber Pine Pinus flexilis and Sugar Pine Pinus lambertiana. We originally had a couplet that attempted to separate the two species by the leaf length and whether they were in dense tufts or not, but that couplet was not easy to use, often ambiguous, and produced some misdeterminations. We've made a detailed page on how to separate these two species that works much better using the cones.

Descriptions

We originally had links to give pictures of the species and their characteristics, but none of the links worked after a few years. So we removed the links, and instead recommend you go to Calphotos and look at their pictures for each species.
The number of records came from a search of Calflora back in ~2007, when there were very few vouchers online. The number of records for each species should be much higher now, but the relative number of records (comparing each species) should be roughly the same.
Pinus contorta subspecies murrayana

Common name: Lodgepole pine, tamarack pine
Leaf: number of needles=2; color=yellow-green; length= < 2"
Cone: size=1-2"; shape=globular like a big walnut; scale=not prickly
Bark: color=gray; texture=cornflakes
Profile: tall, slender, straight
Elevation range: 7,500' - 10,000'
Locations: Dawson Saddle turnout on Angeles Crest Highway, Mt. Baden-Powell, Mt. Baldy
Comments: found only above 7,500' in San Gabriels
Number of records: 7

Pinus coulteri

Common name: Coulter pine, "widow maker"
Leaf: number of needles=3; color=gray-green; length=12-14" erect
Cone: size=12-14"; shape=broadly conical; scale=very prickly, large hooks
Bark: color=dark brown; texture=furrowed with wide scaly ridges
Profile: broad pyramid
Elevation range: 2,500' - 7,500'
Locations: Angeles Crest Highway mile marker 46, Devil Peak, Charlton Flat, unspecified Angeles National Forest
Comments: grows at lowest elevation of all pines in the SGM; grows only in the eastern section; heaviest pine cone in world
Number of records: 18

Pinus flexilis

Common name: Limber pine
Leaf: number of needles=5; color=dark yellow-green; length=1-2½"
Cone: size=3-10; shape=oblong; scale=not prickly; short stalked
Bark: color=grayish white to dark brown; texture=plates with thin scales
Profile: broad crown, short trunk; forked branches whorled and upswept
Elevation range: 8,000' - 9,400'
Locations: occurs only from Throop Peak / Mt. Hawkins to Mt. Baden-Powell, with just a few plants on the PCT below the Blue Ridge Electronic site
Comments: flexible gray branches can be tied in knots (but so can young branches of sugar pine); mostly occurs on ridgetops blown free of snow in the wintertime, from seeds planted there by the Clark's Nutcracker. This species is oddly missing from Mt. Baldy (vouchers of it from there are misdetermined sugar pines).
Number of records: 3

Pinus jeffreyi

Common name: Jeffrey pine
Leaf: number of needles=3; color=grayish blue-green; length=5-10"
Cone: size=4-8"; shape=long oval
Bark: color=reddish brown; texture=narrow plates, deep furrows, jigsaw puzzle flakes
Profile: very tall, columnar
Elevation range: 5,400' - 9,500'
Locations: Angeles Crest Highway mile marker 54, Charlton Flat, Chilao, Grassy Hollow, Lightning Ridge, Mt. Williamson, unspecified Angeles National Forest
Comments: bark very fragrant like vanilla or pineapple; most common pine in San Gabriels
Number of records: 30

Pinus lambertiana

Common name: Sugar pine
Leaf: number of needles=5; color=deep green; length=2½-4"
Cone: size=12-18"; shape=cylindrical; scale=not prickly; long stalked
Bark: color=grayish to purplish-brown; texture=ridges with thin scales
Profile: ragged and uneven; horizontal branches with cones at tips
Elevation range: 6,000' - 9,800'
Locations: Buckhorn Springs, Cloudburst Summit, Mt. Wilson, Sawmill Pk, unspecified Angeles National Forest
Comments: tallest pine tree and longest pine cones in world; often glistening with sugary sap
Number of records: 23

Pinus monophylla

Common name: Pinyon pine, single-leaf pinyon pine
Leaf: number of needles=1; color=gray; length=2"
Cone: size=3-5"; shape=more or less spherical; scale=not prickly
Bark: color=dull gray to dark brown; texture=narrow flat ridges to rough and furrowed
Profile: divided trunk; low and rounded
Elevation range: 3,700' - 6,100'
Locations: Mt. Lowe, Big Pines Highway, Big Rock Creek, Angeles Forest Highway through Kentucky Springs Canyon, Una Lake, unspecified Angeles National Forest
Comments: pine nuts edible; found mainly on the desert side of the San Gabriels; only single-leaf pine in world
Number of records: 30

Pinus ponderosa

Common name: Ponderosa pine, western yellow pine
Leaf: number of needles=3; color=dark yellow-green; length=5-10"
Cone: size=2-5"; shape=oval
Bark: color=yellowish brown; texture=broad plates with shallow furrows and jigsaw puzzle scales
Profile: tall, columnar
Elevation range: 5,200' - 5,500'
Locations: See map
Comments:
Number of records: 4

Pinus sabiniana

Common name: Gray, foothill, or digger pine
Leaf: number of needles=3; color=gray; length=12" drooping
Cone: size=6-10"; shape=conical; scale=very prickly, large hooks
Bark: color=gray to dark brown; texture=vertically furrowed with scaly ridges
Profile: spindly, forked trunk, thin, wispy foliage
Elevation range: 3000' - 4400'
Locations: Elizabeth Lake vicinity, Liebre Mtn., Pine Canyon Road, unspecified Angeles National Forest
Comments: found only in the extreme northwest section of the San Gabriels
Number of records: 9

Sources and Other Information

CalFlora Occurrence Database. A search for Pinus in Los Angeles County in ~2007 yielded 120 observation records for the San Gabriel Mountains.
Conifers of California by Ronald M. Lanner. Cachuma Press, 1999.
Native Conifers of North America - California Conifers by Nearctica
A California Flora by Philip A. Munz. University of California Press, 1968.
Roadside Plants of Southern California by Thomas J. Belzer. Mountain Press Publishing Company, 1984.
Sierra Nevada Natural History by Tracy I. Storer and Robert L. Usinger. University of California Press, 1963.
Trees and Shrubs of California (California Natural History Guides) by John D. Stuart (Author), John O. Sawyer (Author), Andrea J. Pickart (Illustrator)
Pacific Coast Tree Finder: A Pocket Manual for Identifying Pacific Coast Trees (Nature Study Guides) 2nd Edition by Tom Watts.

Go to Keys to Identifying Selected Plant Groups in the SGM

Copyright © 2000-2025 by Jane Strong and Tom Chester.
Permission is freely granted to reproduce any or all of this page as long as credit is given to us at this source:
http://tchester.org/sgm/plants/keys/pine.html
Comments and feedback: Tom Chester
Updated 13 February 2025