I won’t be coy about the location of these trees, all of which were photographed within the Lake Tahoe Basin during my recent trip. A further clue: I have already alluded to these species in a previous post. Once again, comment moderation has been turned on to give everyone a fair shot, and I’ll let the quiz go for a couple days or so. I think this quiz will be easier for my North American readers than Winter botany quiz #2, but maybe still harder than Winter botany quiz #1. Anyone who can correctly identify all six species wins my undying admiration 😉
EDIT: Pedant that I am, attention to nomenclature will serve as a tie-breaker if needed.
#1.
HINT: Needles in bundles of 3 and about 10" long.
#2.
HINT: Needles in bundles of 3 and about 10" long.
MORE HINTS:
Cones for #1 (left) and #2 (right).
#3.
HINT: Needles in bundles of 2 and about 2" long.
#4.
HINT: Needles in bundles of 5 and about 4" long.
#5.
HINT: Needles in bundles of 5 and about 4" long.
#6.
HINT: Needles in bundles of 5 and about 3" long.
Copyright © Ted C. MacRae 2009
Beetles In The Bush 
#1 Ponderosa Pine
#2 Jeffrey’s Pine
#3 Lodgepole Pine
#4 Sugar Pine
#5 Western White Pine
#6 Bristlecone Pine
Many of these are the source of fond memories of backpacking in the Sierras.
Ted- These are beautiful specimens. It has been a while since I studied western conifers, so I’m going to appreciate their botanical beauty and not wager any guesses.
Best guess effort on some of these, but here goes:
#1 Jeffery pine Pinus jeffreyi
#2 Coulter pine – Pinus coulter
#3 Lodgepole pine – Pinus contorta
#4 Western white pine – Pinus monticola
#5 Sugar pine – Pinus lambertiana
#6 The Larch – Larix decidua monty pythoni
Honestly no idea what #6 is
Very cool trees.
These trees are so majestic.
They look huge.
Congratulations to DougT, who nailed all but the last one! #6 is whitebark pine, Pinus albicaulis (bristlecone pine was a good guess, though).
Nice attempt by dtsh, who came up with four correct names (only one of them was associated with the right picture, but it was a nice try). He does get extra credit for including both the scientific name and common name in each of his answers.
I’ll have more about these species in a forthcoming post.
Thanks for playing everyone!