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Species
Pinus radiata D. Don
IUCN
NCBI
EOL Text
Trees to 30m; trunk to 0.9m diam., contorted to straight; crown broadly conic, becoming rounded to flattened. Bark gray, deeply V-furrowed, furrow bases red, ridges irregularly elongate-rectangular, their flattened surfaces scaly. Branches level to downcurved or ascending, poorly self-pruning; twigs slender, red-brown, sometimes glaucous, aging gray, rough. Buds ovoid to ovoid-cylindric, red-brown, ca. 1.5cm, resinous. Leaves (2--)3 in a fascicle, spreading-ascending, persisting 3--4 years, (8--)9--15(--20)cm ´ 1.3--1.8(--2)mm, straight, slightly twisted, deep yellow-green, all surfaces with fine stomatal lines, margins serrulate, apex conic-subulate; sheath (1--)1.5--2cm, base persistent. Pollen cones ellipsoid-cylindric, 10--15mm, orange-brown. Seed cones maturing in 2 years, shedding seeds soon thereafter, but often serotinous and persistent 6--20 years, solitary to whorled, spreading to recurved, curved, very asymmetric, ovoid before opening, broadly ovoid when open, 7--14cm, pale red-brown and lustrous, scales rigid, stalks to 1cm; apophyses toward outer cone base increasingly mammillate, those on inward cone side and middle and apex of cone more level; umbo central, mostly depressed, with small central boss or occasionally with slender, deciduous prickle. Seeds compressed-ellipsoid; body ca. 6mm, dark brown; wing 20--30mm. 2 n =24.
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Rights holder/Author | eFloras.org Copyright © Missouri Botanical Garden |
Source | http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=233500951 |
General: Pine family (Pinaceae). Monterey pines are native to California and Baja California where they occur in only a few small populations. Mature Monterey pines can reach 38 m in height with trunks up to 2 m in diameter. The young trees begin as compact pyramids but age into varied shapes. The adult canopy is usually rounded to flat-topped. Along the Pacific coast, the winds sculpt Monterey pine canopies into picturesque shapes. The bark is red-brown to blackish brown and has deep furrows. The leaves are glossy, dark green needles, 6-15 cm long that grow in bundles of three. Needles on older trees are sometimes a bluish green. Flowers appear in late winter or early spring. The trees are monoecious; having both male and female flowers (McDonald & Laacke 1990). The yellow male catkins are 12mm long and are generally found on the lateral branches. Female flowers grow throughout the entire canopy. The grayish brown cones are asymmetrically oval, 6 to 15 cm long, and are born on short stalks in clusters of 3 to 7 cones. The scales are smooth and rounded. Each cone contains from 120 to 200 dark brown to black, bumpy winged seeds that are 6-7mm long. The cones remain closed on the tree until the second year or sometimes longer. Cones generally ripen and open from late winter to early spring of the second year. Thereafter, they may remain on the tree where they can open and close several times depending on temperature and moisture. The close-grained wood is light and soft. Although it is not considered an important lumber tree in California, it has been widely planted in areas with Mediterranean climates throughout the world for use as lumber and pulp.
Distribution: Monterey pines are native to California and Baja California. Native Monterey pine forests occupy a small portion of their historical range and are currently restricted to five coastal locations: Año Nuevo in the north, the Monterey Peninsula, Cambria, and on Guadalupe and Cedros islands off the coast of Baja, California in the south.
For current distribution, please consult the Plant Profile page for this species on the PLANTS Web site.
Habitat: Monterey pines grow below 1200 meters in closed cone pine forests and oak woodlands. The species is one of the 18 California species of pines and cypresses that bear closed cones (Dallman 1998:27). The remaining stands of Monterey pine are threatened by numerous factors including urbanization, recreational development, and fire suppression, pests and diseases. Fire suppression has resulted in very old stands of forest, which are more susceptible to attacks from pests and diseases. In the Monterey area, the trees are seriously threatened by an epidemic of “pine pitch canker”, a fungal disease caused by Fusarium subglutans pini. This fungus was recently introduced to California from the southeastern United States and is carried from tree to tree by several native insects including the Monterey pine cone beetle (Conophthorus radiatae), twig beetles (Pitophthorus spp.) and engraver beetles (Ips spp.). Indigenous stands of Monterey pine are also threatened by genetic contamination, which results from crossbreeding with planted trees that were brought in from other areas.
Pinus radiata has an extremely narrow natural range: three coastal areas in California (one in San Mateo and Santa Cruz counties, one in Monterey County, and one in San Luis Obispo County) and off the coast of Baja California, Mexico (Guadalupe Island and debatably also on Cedros Island). Some natural populations of the species are under protection. Along the California coast it has escaped from cultivation, and from there into southern coastal Oregon it shows signs of naturalizing.
Pinus radiata is a much better-formed tree and of greater silvicultural value within its introduced range (Africa, Australia, Europe, and New Zealand, where it is a principal timber tree) than in its native range. It hybridizes naturally with P . attenuata ( P . ´ attenuiradiata Stockwell & Righter).
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Rights holder/Author | eFloras.org Copyright © Missouri Botanical Garden |
Source | http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=233500951 |
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 (15). Seldom is the pine found more than 11 km (7 mi) from the sea. The north-south range is about 209 km (130 mi). A close relative of Monterey pine also inhabits the northeastern portion of Guadalupe Island and the northern and central parts of Cedros Island-both of which are Mexican possessions. Guadalupe Island is 740 km (460 mi) south of Cambria, and Cedros Island is 908 km (564 mi) south-southeast of Cambria. Although trees on these islands differ in morphology from those in the United States, they have now been shown to be most closely related to P. radiata (21).
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) (28). 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 (14). 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) (21).
- The native range of Monterey pine.
The Monterey pine habitat is strongly influenced by its proximity to the Pacific Ocean from which the cold waters of southward-flowing currents result in high humidity, low temperatures, and summer fogs. The minimum relative humidity at Monterey in July, for example, averages between 60 and 70 percent (23). At least one-third of the days each year are foggy (35).
Temperatures tend to be mild, although extremes range from about -5° to 41° C (23° to 106° F). Mean monthly temperatures show a relatively even climate with a difference between the coldest and warmest month of about 6.5° C (12° F) in the range of 9° to 11° C (48° to 52° F) in winter and 16° to 18° C (61° to 64° F) in summer. Mean temperatures during the growing season, February through June, range from 11° to 16° C (52° to 61° F), with maximums of 17° to 24° C (63° to 75° F) (34). Frost-free days number about 300 each year.
Annual precipitation ranges from about 380 to 890 mm (15 to 35 in) and varies from year to year. From December to March, precipitation averages 300 to 510 mm (12 to 20 in), with less than 50 mm (2 in) per month for the remaining months. Rain usually does not fall in July and August. During these months, however, the tree crowns collect moisture from fog that moves inland. Fog drip can amount to as much as 15 mm (0.59 in) per week at higher elevations on the Monterey Peninsula (25). No snow falls in the natural range of Monterey pine. Año Nuevo is the wettest of the three mainland locales; Cambria, the driest; and Monterey, the foggiest (3).
Wind is, at best, a minor climatic influence, averaging only 7.6 km/h (4.7 mi/h) on an annual basis. May is the windiest month, August the least windy (23).
The climate of Guadalupe and Cedros Islands is Mediterranean-like, possibly with less rainfall and greater temperature extremes than for mainland stands. Fog is a critical factor and, on both islands, pine stands are restricted to foggy ridges and windward slopes, or occasionally to the moist slopes of deep canyons. On Cedros Island, fog was most frequent and of maximum concentration where the pines grew, and each pine grove tended to be covered with fog while the desert between was exposed to clear sky (22).
After age 5, the roots of pine seedlings grow downward as far as soil depth or the clay layer permit. Main support roots, however, develop in the top 61 cm (24 in), even in deeper soils (23). Studies at Monterey and Cambria showed at least a few pine roots penetrated to 1.7 m (5.5 ft) in deeper soils (8,10). The root system becomes extensive laterally and roots of mature pines extend from 9 to 12 m (30 to 39 ft) from the tree (19). Where a layer of organic matter covers the soil, large numbers of small pine roots exploit the layer for moisture and nutrients.
The species is regarded as moderately windfirm on deeper soils but less so on shallow soils. Trees growing in soils saturated with moisture are vulnerable to windthrow, particularly in exposed places (24).
These plants are readily available from commercial sources. Request plants established from native California rather than New Zealand stock. If you are planting trees in areas near native stands, be sure the seeds or seedlings are from the same genetic stock as those stands.
Contact your local Natural Resources Conservation Service (formerly Soil Conservation Service) office for more information. Look in the phone book under ”United States Government.” The Natural Resources Conservation Service will be listed under the subheading “Department of Agriculture.”
VII, IX, X
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Rights holder/Author | Pablo Gutierrez, IABIN |
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Coastal fog belt; of conservation concern; 30--400m; Calif.; Mexico in Baja California [600--1200 m].
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | eFloras.org Copyright © Missouri Botanical Garden |
Source | http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=233500951 |