Sugar Pine: yet another in the series 'My Favourite Trees'

Two beauties: Ellen standing by a shapely Sugar Pine in the botanic garden at Hamilton in Victoria, August 2024

I was ducking about in the internet the other day chasing up information on Sugar Pine (Pinus lambertiana - sometimes called ‘The King of the Pines’) when I discovered that this species had first been ‘officially’ identified and named by David Douglas, the pioneering Scottish botanist whose name is also associated with another of my favourite trees, Douglas-fir.  David Douglas was botanising in Sugar Pine’s natural habitat in the Oregon territory, in 1826.

By the way, Douglas conferred the ‘menzies” part of the scientific name for Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) to commemorate a fellow Scottish botanist Archibald Menzies, and here is another link. Menzies was a pioneering botanist in Western Australia, having explored the flora at King Georges Sound when he was a member of George Vancouver’s 1791 expedition. Later, on the same voyage and on the other side of the world, Vancouver (and Menzies) explored Puget Sound and the coasts of what became the US States of Oregon and Washington and the Canadian province of British Columbia [Endnote 1].

Getting back to Sugar Pine, the internet article [Endnote 2] contained fascinating excerpts from David Douglas’ journal, his first impressions of the tree and of a hair-raising encounter which occurred at the very moment he was making his initial botanical collection of the species, in October 1826.I love these accounts of their adventures from pioneering botanists:

 …new or strange things seldom fail to make great impressions, and often at first we are liable to over-rate them; and lest I should never see my friends to tell them verbally of this most beautiful and immensely large tree, I now state the dimensions of the largest one I could find that was blown down by the wind: Three feet [1 m] from the ground, 57 feet 9 inches in circumference [5.60 m diam.]; 134 feet [40.84 m] from the ground, 17 feet 5 inches [1.69 m diam.]; extreme length, 215 feet [65.53 m].

The [Sugar Pine] trees are remarkably straight; bark uncommonly smooth for such large timber, of a whitish or light brown colour; and yields a great quantity of gum of a bright amber colour. The large trees are destitute of branches, generally for two-thirds the length of the tree; branches pendulous, and the cones hanging from their points like small sugar-loaves in a grocer’s shop, it being only on the very largest trees that cones are seen …

…  the putting myself in possession of three cones nearly brought my life to an end. Being unable to climb or hew down any [tree], I took my gun and was busy clipping them from the branches with ball when eight Indians came at the report of my gun. They were all painted with red earth, armed with bows, arrows, spears of bone, and flint knives, and seemed to me anything but friendly. I endeavoured to explain to them what I wanted, and they seemed satisfied and sat down to smoke, but had no sooner done so than I perceived one string his bow and another sharpen his flint knife with a pair of wooden pincers and hang it on the wrist of the right hand, which gave me ample testimony of their inclination. To save myself I could not do by flight, and without any hesitation I went backwards six paces and cocked my gun and then pulled from my belt one of my pistols, which I held in my left hand. I was determined to fight for life. As I as much as possible endeavoured to preserve my coolness and perhaps did so, I stood eight or ten minutes looking at them and they at me without a word passing, till one at last, who seemed to be the leader, made a sign for tobacco, which I said they should get on condition of going and fetching me some cones. They went, and as soon as out of sight I picked up my three cones and a few twigs, and made a quick retreat to my camp, which I gained at dusk.

The huge, pendulous cones of a Sugar Pine

I first met Sugar Pine 'in person', as it were, in the Westbourne Woods in Canberra when I was studying dendrology at Forestry School, back in 1961. I cannot now remember why it made such an impression on me, but my second association soon explained this. In 1989 I visited Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Park in the Sierra Mountains of southern California, mostly to see the giant sequoias (Sequoiadendron gigantea) - a pilgrimage made by many of the world’s foresters. The Big Trees were impressive in an unimaginably massive way, but the tree that most took my breath away in these forests was the Sugar Pine. Tall, straight and as clean as a karri tree, with very beautiful bark, it grew in mixed stands with the giant sequoias. There was a soft, clean understory of needles, ferns and old mossy logs. I thought it was one of the finest forests I had ever seen.

The mighty Giant Sequoias in the foreground, Sugar Pine beyond

Incidentally, one day when I was visiting the Kings Canyon/Sequoia National Park on that trip, the rangers were carrying out a prescribed burn. This is done to reduce the build-up of flammable material on the forest floor, the aim being to protect the wonderful old trees from wildfires. Both the Giant Sequoia and Sugar Pine have thick bark that protects them against low-intensity fires, but both are killed by high-intensity wildfire. I visited the burning operations and chatted with one of the rangers who explained that they were mimicking the “cool burning” done by Native Americans, going back centuries. The parkies would like to do more burning, he told me, but are constrained by clean air regulations and opposition from urban environmentalists. I told him I knew how he felt [3].

To my surprise the Sugar Pine is only ranked second as the tallest pine tree, the champion being the Ponderosa Pine (P. ponderosa), although some foresters dispute this and put Sugar Pine at the pinnacle. Whatever, the tallest Sugar Pines are very tall trees indeed, exceeding in height the tallest Australian eucalypts. There are records of Sugar Pines over 80 metres in height [4].

Sugar Pine has superb softwood timber, very pale, almost white … the colour of refined sugar in fact, although this is not how the tree got its name. The cones are huge, up to 25 cm in length, and these contain large seeds that have a high sugar content, once prized by Native Americans, also an important food source for birds and small mammals like squirrels. As for the name, here is the view of America’s famous naturalist John Muir, writing in 1894 in his book The Mountains of California (he includes a cautionary note):

 “The sugar, from which the common name is derived, is to my taste the best of sweets – better than maple sugar. It exudes from the heartwood, where wounds have been made, either by forest fires or the axe, in the shape of irregular, crisp, candy-like kernels, which are crowded together in masses of considerable size, like clusters of resin-beads. Indians are fond of it, but on account of its laxative properties, only small quantities may be eaten”.

The timber is prized for milling into lumber, while for early settlers in California and Oregon, Sugar Pine was the timber of choice for building log cabins. These were solid and long-lasting.

Log cabin made from Sugar Pine, still sound more than 100 years after construction.

The Sugar Pine Walk

Sugar Pine does not grow naturally in Australia, but it has been planted here, notably in New South Wales. One of the finest stands of pine trees I ever saw was the famous Sugar Pine Walk in the arboretum at Batlow in the snow country of NSW which I visited on a bitterly cold, snowy day in 2005 and again in the summer of 2015. I am not sure of the height of these trees at that time, but their majesty was unparalleled in my experience of conifer plantations.

The Sugar Pine Walk at Batlow in NSW, March 2015

My fellow-Western Australian forester the late Phil Shedley claimed that these trees were planted by his father A.C Shedley, also a famous Western Australian forester. Shedley Sr worked at Batlow after returning from service on the Western Front in World War I. This would have made these trees nearly 100 years old when I visited them.

An alternative view was given to me by the notable Australian/American forestry Professor John Helms, with whom I enjoy a pleasant correspondence. According to John, in 1920 his father Andreas Helms, also a forester, was sent to the USA by the New South Wales Forestry Commission to collect seed of various American pines (including Sugar Pine and Ponderosa Pine). The Commission was keen to see how these trees would perform in NSW. Helms arrived back in Australia a year later and the seeds were duly sown, and seedlings raised and planted out. The ponderosa did not flourish at this altitude, but the sugar pine was a great success. To some New South Welsh foresters, the Sugar Pine Walk depicted above was always known as “Helms’ Plantation” [5].

Forester Andreas “Andy” Helms in 1929, in Esperance WA, with his work vehicle, a Ford T (photo courtesy of John Helms)

I like to think both stories are true, with Mr Helms collecting the seed and raising the seedlings, and Mr Shedley doing (or at least helping with) the planting. Whatever the case, it is surprising to me that NSW foresters did not persist with Sugar Pine, given how well it grows at the higher altitudes, and the superb quality of the timber (to say nothing of the beauty of the tree).

A tragic denouement

Sadly, the arboretum at Batlow, and the famous stand of Sugar Pine established by Helms and Shedley, was destroyed in the Black Summer bushfires of 2020. Only a handful of trees survived.

I was not surprised. The Black Summer fires in NSW were very large and fierce, and (as far as I could see) nothing much had been done to mitigate wildfire damage at Batlow, for example, periodic mild-intensity fuel reduction burning. There has never been enough done in Australia to safeguard pine plantations from fire, especially in the last 20 years or so when exotic pines have become politically incorrect, and this was another tragic example.

I understand there was some natural seedling regeneration of Sugar Pine in the ashbeds after the fire, and that nursery-raised seedlings, grown from seed from the Walk, have also been planted. The forestry profession has always taken a long view, and it is good to hear NSW foresters talking about the “second-generation Sugar Pine Walk” to be enjoyed by visitors in another 100 years or so.

Nor is Sugar Pine doing well in the USA, where the tree is attacked by a rust fungus and bark beetles. This is said to be an outcome of ‘climate change’, but I prefer the view of fire historians, ecologists and foresters who have found that if dense forests containing Sugar Pines are subjected to thinning and periodic mild-intensity prescribed fires, their declining health and vigour is reversed.

 What about Sugar Pine in Western Australia?

I have planted a great many pine trees over the years, but never a Sugar Pine. Thinking about this the other day I had doubts that they would thrive here, our summers being mostly too hot and dry. Nevertheless, I checked with expert colleagues (Brad Barr and Ray Fremlin among them) and was reminded that there was a very nice grove of Sugar Pines growing at the old forestry HQ at Manjimup.  I knew these trees well from when I worked there in the 1970s, having often strolled under them on my way from the regional office to visit the research station just down the road. I am not sure how old these trees are – maybe getting close to 100 years of age, perhaps planted in the 1930s by Don Stewart, one of our most famous forestry pioneers. The Manjimup Sugar Pines are true to form and reputation: they are clean, handsome trees, getting on for 50 m in height.

Sugar Pine grove at Manjimup, WA, photographed in 2025 by Jack Bradshaw

This photograph also reminds me of the night in April 1978 when Cyclone Alby ravaged the south-west. During the height of the storm the pines were bent over into almost a half-circle, and we were sure they would come crashing down onto the office roof at any moment. That was the night I issued instructions for all staff to wear safety helmets even though they were inside.

As it turned out, no tree was uprooted or snapped off by the cyclonic wind – a tribute to the wonderful resilience of Sugar Pine – it is “not just a pretty face”. Regrettably, it was never adopted as a plantation species in WA, due no doubt to slow growth compared with flashy pines like radiata, and to being limited to the cooler moister climes of the lower south-west. 

Never mind. Sugar Pine is one of the world's finest trees, probably ranked Number 1 on the list of My Favourite Pine Trees [6]. And who knows? Maybe some young forester, if such an animal exists anymore, will read this article and be inspired to plant 100 ha of sugar pines down south somewhere, and ensure they are looked after professionally, so that in 100 years-time, the trees will be heritage-listed, and the young forester will be celebrated as a great visionary.

 Footnotes

1.      Archibald Menzies is also remembered in the name of one of WA’s most spectacular small trees, Banksia menziesii … quite a good name actually, as it also commemorates Joseph Banks, the hugely influential botanist/naturalist who sailed with Cook.

  The gorgeous flowering spike of Banksia menziesii, also known prosaically as the “Firewood Banksia”

2.      The reference is https://landscapeplants.oregonstate.edu/discovery-sugar-pine-pinus-lambertiana-dougl

In my article I have chosen to write the tree’s name as Sugar Pine (with capital letters). This is not true to the convention for plant common names but seemed to me to make it easier to read.

3.        Tragically, forests in the Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Park were devastated by high intensity wildfire in 2021. Park managers called again for more fuel reduction burning, especially in the Giant Sequioa groves, in the wake of these fires.

4.      You get a good idea of the size and beauty of the Sugar Pine from this terrific little video, made by an old-school forester/timberman in southern Oregon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYE-B31-j6E

5.      In the early 1930s, Andy Helms also established a fine arboretum at Esperance in the south-east of Western Australia. It was later named Helms Arboretum, and in addition to its value demonstrating the adaptability of different tree species to the local environment, it became a popular place for weddings, and a tourist attraction with walking paths and a picnic spot. In a second tragedy, reminiscent of the demise of the Sugar Pine Walk in NSW, the Helms Arboretum at Esperance was seriously damaged in a bushfire in December 2024.

6.      Tune in to a future story in these chronicles to find out about My Favourite Pine Tree Number 2 (hint: it is native to the Canary Islands).