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Shore Pine/Lodgepole Pine

 


The lodgepole pine is a common pine species in western North America. Native Americans used the tall straight trunk for teepee frames, hence the name lodgepole pine. Its scientific name is Pinus contorta. The genus name “Pinus” means it is a pine as you would expect. But the species name “contorta” might throw you. “Contorta” would indicate that it is contorted, twisted, or distorted.

I live on the windy Oregon Coast and our version of Pinus contorta is called “shore pine.” Shore pines, as the name indicates, grow along the coast from northern California to Alaska. They are subject to winds that the more inland trees do not experience. Shore pines are gnarled and twisted, a far cry from the straight-growing lodgepole. Winter storms on the Oregon coast can be extreme with wind gusts sometimes blowing over 100 miles per hour. A visitor to our coast might naturally assume that the trees are twisted because of these strong winds coming off the ocean constantly blowing the trees in the same direction.

But curiously, it is not the strong winter winds that deform the trees, but the summer wind. Summer winds on our coasts may be nowhere near as fierce as the winter winds, but they can be blustery and persistent. The summer winds are also dry and therein lies the problem for the trees. The summer winds dry out the buds on the windward side of the trees, stunting the limb growth in that direction. This uneven growth pattern is called the krummholz effect (in German this translates to ‘twisted wood’).

We have several species of conifers in our area. Besides the shore pine, it is common to find hemlock, Sitka Spruce, and Douglas Fir. We had an ice storm a couple of years ago (a rare event for the Oregon Coast) and the shore pines fared the worst of all the conifers. A walk around the neighborhood after the storm revealed many broken branches and trees that were soon to die, but in almost all cases, the damaged trees were the shore pines. One would assume the lodgepole pines of the mountains are better suited for snow and ice.

The lodgepole version of the trees typically grow in the Cascade Range and the Rocky Mountains. It can just seem kind of funny that two trees with completely different profiles as the lodgepole pine and shore pine can be the same species. But they are.

Star Liner

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