upper trunk

The flowers are crimson, fluffy balls, appearing in March and April, on the naked branches and upper trunk of the tree.

Bark-formation early, the scales deciduous, the upper trunk and branches red.

Deciduous bark changes after some years to cumulative bark, and the upper trunk only of mature trees is red.

It is recognized by its lustrous red cones and by the ashen gray cortex of its branches and upper trunk.

It can be at once recognized by its slender drooping foliage, its persistent cones, and its red upper trunk.