Pinus contorta var. murrayana

In the landscape Sierra Lodgepoles are popular for their dark green color and dense branching habit, it is also one of the best pines for creating a tall privacy hedge. They are also very popular for bonsai with short needles and lots of stocky branches that develop a thick diameter quickly. Lodgepole Pines do best in well drained soil and don't like to be over-watered during the summer.

Adaptation to fire

Unlike most conifers, Lodgepole Pines don't drop their seeds every year but store them so they can be released after a fire. The scales on the cones remain sealed shut to hold the seeds in until the heat from a fire triggers the cones to open over the next few months. This adaptation allows many years' worth of seed to be stored and protected until after the forest is cleared in a fire so that millions of pine seeds can drop into an environment with almost no competition. The unprotected seeds of most other species will usually perish in the heat and so pure stands of Lodgepole Pines will quickly fill in after a fire. For this reason most Lodgepole Pines in a forest will be of an identical age and will all be roughly the same size. However, since almost no new trees will germinate until the next fire most of the Lodgepoles are slowly replaced by other conifers.

The many subspecies of the Lodgepole Pine
The Lodgepole Pine has several distinct subspecies from its different primary ranges. The Sierra Lodgepole, Pinus contorta sub. murrayana, is native from the southern end of Washington in the Cascade Volcano Range through Oregon and to the Sierra Range in California. There is also a small, shrubby form native to the coast along the Pacific Ocean with the form P. contorta sub. contorta growing in Oregon and Washington and P. contorta sub. bolanderi growing along the coast in northern California. The most wide-spread subspecies is the Rocky Mountain Lodgepole P. contorta sub. latifolia which grows from Canada to Colorado.