NATIVEHabit: Tree, generally not sprouting.
Stem: trunk < 90 m, to 11 m diam; old crown irregular, with large branches throughout; bark to +- 60 cm thick near base, fibrous, ridged, red-brown; branches spreading to downswept, ends upturned; twigs persistent < 20 years.
Leaf: alternate, green < 4 years, persistent < 20; of 1 kind, appressed, +- 4-ranked, < 15 mm, awl-like.
Pollen Cone: 4--8 mm, +- spheric to ovoid.
Seed Cone: 40--90 mm, oblong, woody, maturing in 2 years, persistent < 20; scales peltate, fused to bracts.
Seed: 3--9 per scale, 3--6 mm, wings 2, unequal, lateral.
Chromosomes: n=11.
Ecology: Uncommon. Mixed-conifer forest, especially with favorable soil moisture;
Elevation: 825--2700 m.
Bioregional Distribution: SNH, naturalized in northwestern San Jacinto Mountains (Black Mountain), possibly naturalizing in San Gabriel Mountains, San Bernardino Mountains.
Note: Most massive trunks in North America.
Unabridged Note: Schmid & Schmid (2011. Madroño 58:202--203; 2012. Aliso 30:19--32) rigorously documented that at least 157 plants (seedlings to saplings), some up to 40 years old (and reproducing), on northwestern flank of Black Mountain, northwestern San Jacinto Mountains, have descended naturally from plantings made nearby in 1974, and suggested that the same may occur from planted plants that are persisting in San Gabriel Mountains, San Bernardino Mountains.Jepson eFlora Author: Steve Boyd & James R. Griffin
Index of California Plant Names (ICPN; linked via the Jepson Online Interchange)
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