Pinus attenuata

They have a very interesting adaptation to forest fires, which are common throughout the Knobcone Pine's native ranges. Unlike many other Pine species that drop open their cones and drop their seeds within a year of ripening, Knobcone Pine trees seal their cones shut with wax and hold them for decades. In fact the cones can be held on the trunk for 50-60 years with almost no decrease in seed viability. During a forest fire the heat melts the wax which allows the heavily armored and insulated cones to begin to open within a week of the fire. Once the cones are opened the unharmed seeds can disperse into a landscape where few other trees and seeds remain uburnt, and in huge quantities as the number of closed cones secured to tree trunks and branches increases every year without a fire.

The new generation of seedlings form dense carpets throughout the burned forest and have very little competition for the first few years, but seeds from other trees and shrubs blow in from unburned areas and start to grow alongside the Knobcones. Knobcone Pines are excellent at growing on harsh sites without shade and as they start to mature provide the necessary shelter for other plant species to get established. These other species would struggle to survive their first summer of blazing heat without the shelter provided by older Knobcones, but once they get established they will grow faster than the Knobcone Pines and start to outcompete them. As time goes on the Knobcones will be slowly replaced by Firs, Oaks, and, other Pines, and Madrone trees until after hundreds of years only a few scattered Knobcone trees will be left standing. All the Knobcones will be the same age, producing no new seedlings to replace dead and blown down trees without the heat of a fire. But once another fire sweeps through the forest, the few remaining Knobcone pines will spread their seeds and start the whole cycle over again.