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Western white pine Pinaceae Pinus monticola
Leaf: Acicular, 2 to 4 inches long, fascicles of 5, blue-green with white lines of stomatal bloom on two of the three needle surfaces, persist 3 to 4 years, bundle sheath is deciduous, apex blunt. Flower: Monoecious; male cones are small, yellow, and clustered near the tips of branches; female cones are larger, almost round, greenish-pink in color, and clustered near the tips of branches in the upper parts of the crown. Fruit: Large cylindrical woody cones, 5 to 12" long, thin and curved. Brown when mature; scales thin and unarmed, typically tipped with globs of white resin; very short stalk. Twig: Moderately stout and grayish-brown. Bark: Initially thin and grayish-green later becoming up to 2 inches thick, gray to purplish-gray and broken into square or rectangular blocks, not ridged and furrowed. Dark bands commonly encircle the tree where whorls of branches have fallen off. Form: Tall, straight, evergreen conifer growing to 180 feet tall and 4 feet in diameter with an open crown, long up-raised branches near the top (horizontal lower down); bole commonly free of branches for half its length.
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