Pinus lambertiana Douglas

vernacular sugar pine — species · Pinaceae

USDA: PILA
GBIF: 5284989
Rank: species

sugar pine (Pinus lambertiana) — Platephotograph · Jason HollingerCC BY-ND source · iNaturalist ↗

§2Habit & range

Growth habit: Tree
Duration: Perennial
Group: Gymnosperm
Family: Pinaceae Spreng. ex Rudolphi
Genus: Pinus

§2a

Native status, by region

L48 Lower 48 States Native

§2b

County-level range

· 3 counties across 1 state

Legend Native · 3 Introduced · 0 Both · 0 Hover a county for detail.

§3Cultivation specs · USDA

Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.

§3a

Tolerances

Drought: Medium
Shade: Medium
Moisture use: Medium
Fire: Low
Salinity: None
Anaerobic: None
CaCO₃: None
Hedging: Low

§3b

Climate & soil

Cold tolerance: -28 °F minimum
Frost-free days: 150 min.
Precipitation: 25–90 in/yr
pH range: 5.6–8
Root depth: 40 in min.
Fertility need: Low
Soil texture: coarse, medium

§3c

Form & growth

Growth form: Single Stem
Growth rate: Rapid
Lifespan: Long
Mature height: 229 ft
Height @ 20 y: 40 ft
Foliage texture: Fine
Foliage colour: Green
Porosity (summer): Moderate
Porosity (winter): Moderate
Flower colour: Brown
Fruit colour: Brown
Fire resistant: No
N fixation: None
Toxicity: None

§3d

Reproduction

Bloom period: Spring
Seed abundance: Medium
Seed begins: Spring
Seed ends: Summer
Spread rate: Slow
Stratify: Yes
Seeds / lb: 2,080
Propagation: seed, cuttings, bare root, container

§3e

Use & availability

Commercial availability: Routinely Available
Nursery stock: No
Browse palatability: Medium
Graze palatability: Low
Palatable, human: Yes
Lumber: Yes
Fuelwood: Medium
Christmas tree: No

§4Counties, by state

Recorded in 3 counties across 1 state.

Nevada view state ↗ 3 N ▾

§5Sources & provenance

USDA PLANTS

Symbol, taxonomy, distribution, cultivation specs, native status. Public domain.

plants.usda.gov/PILA ↗

GBIF Backbone

Canonical taxonomic identity, synonym resolution, cross-refs. CC0.

gbif.org/species/5284989 ↗

Record version

Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:

usda-plants-mt-2026-05-26

fetched 2026-05-26T13:12:28Z