Common Name: Limber Pine Scientific Name: Pinus flexilis
Family: Pinaceae
This Tree in Colorado: This Colorado native grows on some of the harshest sites; high elevations that are rocky, dry and exposed. It typically grows at elevations from 9,000 to 11,000 feet, but is found below 5,000 feet at Pawnee Buttes on the plains northeast of Fort Collins, perhaps grown from seed left by traveling Indians. Limber pine grows in stands with ponderosa pine, lodgepole pine, bristlecone pine and Engelmann spruce. It will grow as a pure stand where conditions are too harsh for other species.
This “gangly” tree with irregular and horizonatal limbs and an open crown is not often seen in the landscape but some varieties such as ‘Vanderwolf’ are becoming more readily available.
Growth Rate: Moderate growing to 35 feet.
Best Advice: It is sensitive to soil compaction and does best on sunny sites. It is drought, heat and salt resistant.
Hardiness: Cold Hardy; Zone 2
Needles: Dark blue green in bundles of 5 clustered at ends. The twigs are so flexible they can be tied in a knot
Cones: 5 to 7 inches long, oval and stout with sharp curved prickles and a sticky resin. The cone is tan brown and is produced from mid-August to October. The seeds are used by upland game and songbirds.
Bark: Smooth gray in young trees. Scaly plates gray to black in mature trees
Insects and Disease: Bark beetles, dwarf mistletoe, white pine blister rust.
Information Source: Colorado State Forest Service, “Trees for Conservation”, 1996. Gary Hightshoe, “Native Trees, Shrubs, and Vines for Urban and Rural America”, 1988