page_title: Pinus balfouriana
section_title: Description
hierarchical_section_title: Pinus balfouriana / Description
caption_attribution_description: English: Foxtail pine Pinus balfouriana in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California
context_page_description: Pinus balfouriana, the foxtail pine, is a rare high-elevation pine that is endemic to California, United States. It is closely related to the Great Basin and Rocky Mountain bristlecone pines, in the subsection Balfourianae. The two disjunct populations are found in the southern Klamath Mountains and the southern Sierra Nevada. A small outlying population was reported in southern Oregon, but was proven to have been misidentified.
context_section_description: P. balfouriana is a tree to 10–20 m (30–70 ft) tall, exceptionally 35 m (115 ft), with a trunk up to 2 m (7 ft) across. Its leaves are needle-like, in bundles of five (or sometimes four, in the southern Sierra) with a semi-persistent basal sheath, and 2–4 cm (1–1 ¹⁄₂ in) long, deep glossy green on the outer face, and white on the inner faces; they persist for 10–15 years. The cones are 6–11 cm (2 ¹⁄₂–4 ¹⁄₂ in) long, dark purple ripening red-brown, with soft, flexible scales each with a 1-millimeter (¹⁄₁₆-inch) central prickle.
caption: A Foxtail Pine in the southern Sierra Nevada.
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