[7]: 4 Pinus ponderosa grows in various erect forms from British Columbia southward and eastward through 16 western U.S. states and has been introduced in temperate regions of Europe and in New Zealand.

In 1829, Douglas concluded that he had a new pine among his specimens and coined the name Pinus ponderosa[10] for its heavy wood.

The Rocky Mountains subspecies has shorter—3+1⁄2–5+3⁄4 in (9.2–14.4 cm)—and stout needles growing in scopulate (bushy, tuft-like) fascicles of two or three.

[22] In January 2011, a Pacific ponderosa pine in the Rogue River–Siskiyou National Forest in Oregon was measured with a laser to be 268 ft 4 in (81.79 m) high.

The tree was climbed on October 13, 2011, by Ascending The Giants (a tree-climbing company in Portland, Oregon) and directly measured with tape-line at 268 ft 3 in (81.77 m) high.

Before the distinctions between the North Plateau and Pacific races were fully documented, most botanists assumed that ponderosa pines in both areas were the same.

Subsequent research determined this to be one of the southernmost outliers of the typical North Plateau race of ponderosa pine.

[43] This is likely just one of the many islands of Pacific subspecies of ponderosa pine occurring in the Willamette Valley and extending north to the southeast end of Puget Sound in Washington.

The subspecies of P. ponderosa can be distinguished by measurements along several dimensions:[15]: 23–24 [16]: 17 Notes Names of taxa and transition zones are on the map.

[48] Ponderosa pine are also found in the Chisos, Davis, and Guadalupe Mountains of Texas, at elevations between 4,000 and 8,000 feet (1,200 and 2,400 m).

[14] The tree has thick bark, and its buds are protected by needles, allowing even some younger individuals to survive weaker fires.

[14] In addition to being adapted to dry, fire-affected areas, the species often appears on the edges of deserts as it is comparatively drought resistant, partly due to the ability to close its leaf pores.

[51] Blue stain fungus, Grosmannia clavigera, is introduced in sapwood of P. ponderosa from the galleries of all species in the genus Dendroctonus (mountain pine beetle), which has caused much damage.

[52] The seeds are eaten by squirrels, chipmunks, quail, grouse, and Clark's nutcracker, while mule deer browse the seedlings.

[54] Pinus ponderosa is affected by Armillaria, Phaeolus schweinitzii, Fomes pini, Atropellis canker, dwarf mistletoe, Polyporus anceps, Verticicladiella, Elytroderma needle cast, and western gall rust.

[14] Cultivated as a bonsai, ponderosas are prized for their rough, flaky bark, contorted trunks, flexible limbs, and dramatic deadwood.

Collected specimens can be wildly sculpted by their environment, resulting in beautiful twisted trunks, limbs and deadwood.

The main challenge for this species in bonsai cultivation is the natural long length of its needles, which takes years of training and care to reduce.

[59] During Operation Upshot–Knothole in 1953, a nuclear test was performed in which 145 ponderosa pines were cut down by the United States Forest Service and transported to Area 5 of the Nevada Test Site, where they were planted into the ground and exposed to a nuclear blast to see what the blast wave would do to a forest.