Coulter Pine

(Pinus coulteri)

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Color Photograph: © by and courtesy of Charles Webber, California Academy of Sciences

Coulter Pine (Pinus coulteri)

Identifying Characters: Coulter Pine can usually be identified by the huge female cones, the long blue-green needles, the straight trunked tree, and the southern California distribution.

Similar Species: Coulter Pine is closely related to Digger Pine. Coulter Pine, however is a straight trunked tree with lateral, nearly horizontal branches. Digger Pine, in contrast, has a crooked, forking trunk and the branches are not horizontal. The needles of Coulter Pine are blue-green and stiff, but those of Digger Pine are dull gray-green and droop noticeably.

Measurements: Mature trees between 40 and 70 feet high and 1 to 2.5 feet in diameter.

Cones: Cones very large and very heavy, between 8 and 12 inches long; cones borne on a long stalk; cone elongate, ovate; cone scales long and thick with a large, triangular apical spine; apical spine curved and pointing toward the apex of the cone.

Needles: Needles in bundles of 3, thick, rigid, and deep blue-green in color; needle length between 8 and 12 inches; bundle sheath not shed after the first year.

Bark: Bark dark gray, thick, and deeply furrowed into scaly ridges.

Native Range: Occurring singly or in small groves primarily in the coastal mountains of southern California between 3000 and 6000 feet. Ranging from Mt. Diablo and the Santa Lucia Mountains to the San Bernardino, San Jacinto, and Cuyamaca Mountains in the south. The species also occurs in the Sierra del Pinal of Baja California.

Habitat: Coulter Pine occurs on the dry slopes and ridges of the southern California Coastal Ranges.