Pinus Ponderosa - Ecology and Distribution

Ecology and Distribution

P. ponderosa is a dominant tree in the Kuchler plant association, the Ponderosa shrub forest. Like most western pines, the ponderosa is associated with mountainous topography. It is found on the Black Hills and on foothills and mid-height peaks of the northern, central and southern Rocky Mountains as well as the Cascades and Sierra Nevada, and the Maritime Coast Range Ponderosa Pine forests.

P. ponderosa needles are the only known food of the caterpillars of the gelechiid moth Chionodes retiniella. Blue stain fungus, Grosmannia clavigera, attacks P. Ponderosa from the mouth of the Mountain Pine Beetle.