Monterey Pine

(Pinus radiata)

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

Monterey Pine (Pinus radiata)

Identifying Characters: Monterey Pine is easily identified by its highly restricted range along coastal California between San Francisco and Santa Barbara. Needles are in bundles of 3. The cones are lop-sided in appearance and borne on a long stalk.

Similar Species: This species is unlikely to be confused with any other species within its restricted range.

Measurements: Mature individuals 40 to 60 feet tall with some specimens reaching over 100 feet; diameter 1 to 2 feet.

Cones: Cones ovid and tapering to a pointed apex; cone on a long stalk and very oblique at the base giving the cone a lop-sided appearance; opening late in the season and sometimes persistent and closed on the branches for many years; cone scales long, thick, and with strong central keel; cone scale terminated with a strong apical spine.

Needles: Needles in bundles of 3 (rarely 2), slender, bright green; needle length 4 to 6 inches; sheaths not deciduous after the first year.

Bark: Bark thick, dark red-brown,deeply divided into broad, flat ridges broken up into thick plate-like scales.

Native Range: Native stands of Monterey Pine are found in three distinct areas of central-coastal California in San Mateo, Santa Cruz, Monterey, and San Luis Obispo Counties. The northernmost stand is east of point Año Nuevo, the central stand 48 km (30 mi) to the south near Monterey and Carmel, and the southernmost stand about 105 km (65 mi) away in the Pico Creek-Cambria area. Seldom is the pine found more than 11 km (7 mi) from the sea. The north-south range is about 209 km (130 mi).

The area occupied by natural stands of Monterey pine on the United States mainland was once well defined, even though estimates of the total area ranged from 4860 to 6480 ha (12,000 to 16,000 acres). Precise natural limits, however, are now difficult to determine because of conspicuous amounts of new regeneration. The southern part of the forest at Año Nuevo, for example, is estimated to have increased by as much as 95 ha (235 acres) in recent decades. Additional trees have been planted, and these also have produced seed that led to many acres of new reproduction. Nevertheless, the total area currently occupied probably is no more than 8000 ha (19,770 acres). (Silvics of North America. 1990. Agriculture Handbook 654.)

Habitat: Monterey Pine is restricted to three populations along the California coast between San Francisco and Santa Barbara. The most famous population are the famous trees near Monterey, California. The species is found only along the coast.