Coniferous forests

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Coniferous forests
(plus conifers in other communities)
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Sequoiadendron giganteum giant sequoia
Tallest 83.6 m dbh 8.8 m
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Sequoia sempervirens coast redwood
Tallest 110 m
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Pinus lambertiana sugar pine
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Pinus longaeva Bristlecone Pine
Oldest 4789 y
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Pinus albicaulis whitebark pine
Krummholz form at treeline by John Muir
(highest elevation conifer)
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Pinus attenuata knobcone pine
Most fire-adapted
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John Muir, writing about knobcone pine (Pinus
attenuata) . . . Most mountaineers refer to it as
"that queer little pine-tree covered all over
with burs." In my studies of this species I found
a very interesting and significant group of
facts, whose relations will be seen almost as
soon as stated 1st. All the trees in the groves
I examined, however unequal in size, are of the
same age. 2d. Those groves are all planted on
dry hillsides covered with chaparral, and
therefore are liable to be swept by fire. 3d.
There are no seedlings or saplings in or about
the living groves, but there is always a fine,
hopeful crop springing up on the ground once
occupied by any grove that has been destroyed by
the burning of the chaparral. 4th. The cones
never fall off and never discharge their seeds
until the tree or branch to which they belong
dies. A full discussion of the bearing of these
facts upon one another would perhaps be out of
place here, but I may at least call attention to
the admirable adaptation of the tree to the
fire-swept regions where alone it is found. After
a grove has been destroyed, the ground is at once
sown lavishly with all the seeds ripened during
its whole life, which seem to have been carefully
held in store with reference to such a calamity.
Then a young grove immediately springs up, giving
beauty for ashes.  
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Taxus brevifolia Pacific yew
Most newly valuable (and threatened)
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Pinus sabiniana grey (formerly digger) pine
Lowest elevation? At least near Oxy
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Pinus jeffreyi, P. coulteri
Two big locals
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Cupressus sargentii sargent cypress
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Pinus contorta ssp. bolanderi bolander pine
Shortest (subspecies lt 2 m tall)
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Pinus contorta ssp. contorta shore pine
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Pinus radiata Monterey pine
Threatened in its native CA range
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Yet a weed in Australia and the most commonly
planted pine outside US
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Pinus torreyana Torrey pine
Smallest native range in US
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Juniperus californica California juniper
Most drought tolerant conifer in US
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Two montane strategies endure or escape . . .
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Flowering plants above timberline(unlike desert
flowers, these are perennial)

• Cushion buckwheat (Eriogonum ovalifolium ssp.
  nivale)

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Alpine shooting star (Dodecatheon alpinum)
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• Sky pilot (Polemonium eximium)