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PONDEROSA PINE - Pine Family Pinus ponderosa      Ponderosa Pine is the only long-needled pine at the South Rim. Needles are usually five to nine inches long and come in bundles of three. The tree attains a height of about 110 feet here, but up to 160 feet in the more moist mountains of California. John Muir (1838-1914), the great naturalist who is sometimes called the "father of our national parks," measured a ponderosa in the Sierra Nevada that was 220 feet tall and 8 feet in trunk diameter. Two to four feet in diameter is common for the large ponderosas here at the South Rim. Cones are three to six inches. An exceptional ponderosa may attain an age of 600 years.       Young ponderosas have rough black bark. Mature trees have thick orange-brown bark that protects the tree from mild wildfire. In addition, mature trees drop their lower branches in a process called self pruning. This prevents brush fires from climbing to the crown. Such adaptations are useless in extreme fire conditions such as those that prevailed in the summers of 2002 and 2003 in many western states. Fortunately, the Grand Canyon was spared.

 

Ponderosa cones contain winged seeds that are too small for people but just right for the South Rim's Abert Squirrel and many birds.

 
 

Mature ponderosa bark occurs in furrowed plates. Look closely and you will see little puzzle pieces. It's fun to imagine animal shapes in the pieces.

 
 

Ponderosa pine bark smells like vanilla.

  Up to Trees and Shrubs  Ponderosa Pine  Pinyon Pine  Utah Juniper  Gambel Oak  Douglas-fir  Cliffrose  Apache Plume  Mormon Tea  Utah Serviceberry  Fernbush  Wax Currant  Big Sagebrush  Fremont Barberry  Rabbit Brush  Banana Yucca  Utah Agave  Mountain Mahogany Blueberry Elder Rock Mat Brickellbush Buffalo Berry