Knobcone pine facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Knobcone pine |
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Pinus
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attenuata
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The knobcone pine, also known as Pinus attenuata, is a special kind of tree. It likes to grow in places with mild weather and even on poor soil. You can find it from the mountains of southern Oregon all the way down to Baja California. Most of these trees live in northern California and near the border of Oregon and California.
Contents
What Does the Knobcone Pine Look Like?
The knobcone pine usually has a cone-shaped top and a straight trunk. It can grow to be about 8 to 24 meters (26 to 79 feet) tall. But if the soil is very poor, it might stay small like a shrub. This tree prefers dry, rocky mountain soil.
When the tree is young, its bark is smooth, flaky, and gray-brown. As it gets older, the bark turns dark gray-red-brown. It then gets shallow grooves that look like flat, scaly ridges. The small branches, called twigs, are red-brown and often feel sticky because of tree sap.
The leaves of the knobcone pine are like needles. They grow in groups of three. These needles are yellow-green, a bit twisted, and about 9 to 15 centimeters (3.5 to 6 inches) long.
The cones are 8 to 16 centimeters (3 to 6 inches) long. They often grow in groups of three to six on the branches. Each scale on the cone has a short, strong prickle at its end.
How Do Knobcone Pine Cones Open?
Knobcone pine cones are very interesting! They stay tightly closed for many years. They only open up when there is a fire. The heat from the fire makes the cones open. This allows the seeds inside to fall out and grow new trees. Because the cones stay on the tree for so long, they can sometimes even become part of the trunk as the tree grows bigger!
Where Does the Knobcone Pine Live?
The knobcone pine often grows in groups of only its own kind. However, it can sometimes mix with other pine trees. For example, it might hybridize (which means it can cross-breed) with the bishop pine (Pinus muricata) and the Monterey pine (Pinus radiata) if they grow near the coast.
In the western foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains, the knobcone pine often grows alongside the blue oak (Quercus douglasii). They are both very common trees in these areas.
See also
In Spanish: Pino de Eldorado para niños
Images for kids
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Leaves
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male cones
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Cones
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Knobcone pine cone
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Plant
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Habitat
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