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| Sugar pine | ||||||||||||||
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 ''Cones and needles of a Sugar pine (photo Richard Sniezko, US Forest Service) Large pic'' | ||||||||||||||
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| Pinus lambertiana |
Sugar pine is the largest species of pine, commonly growing to 40-60 m tall, exceptionally up to 81 m tall, and with a trunk diameter of 1.5-2.5 m, exceptionally 3.5 m.
It is a member of the white pine group, Pinus subgenus Strobus, and like all members of that group, the leaves ('needles') are in fascicles (bundles) of five, with a deciduous sheath. They are 6-11 cm long. Sugar pine is notable for having the longest cones of any conifer, mostly 25-50 cm long, exceptionally up to 66 cm long.
The Sugar pine has been savaged by the white pine blister rust, a fungus that was accidently introduced from Europe in 1909. A high proportion of the Sugar pine has been killed by the blister rust, particularly in the northern part of the species' range. The rust has also destroyed much of the Western white pine and Whitebark pine outside of California. The US Forest Service has a program (see link below) for developing rust-resistant Sugar pine and Western white pine. Seedlings of these trees have been introduced into the wild.
