Coulter pine, showing twig structure and needles (Angeles National Forest, California) [C.J. Earle, 12-Mar-1998].
Common Names
Coulter, bigcone, nut or pitch pine (2).Taxonomic notes
Description
"Trees to 24 m; trunk to 1 m diam., straight to contorted; crown broad, thin, irregular. Bark dark gray-brown to near black, deeply furrowed, with long, scaly, irregularly anastomosing, rounded ridges. Branches often ascending; twigs stout to moderately slender, violet-brown, often glaucous, aging gray-brown, rough. Buds ovoid, deep red-brown, 1.5(-3) cm, resinous; scale margins white-fringed, apex cuspidate. Leaves 3 per fascicle, slightly spreading, not drooping, mostly ascending in a brush, persisting 3-4 years, 15-30 cm x ca. 2 mm, slightly curved or straight, twisted, dusty gray-green, all surfaces with pale, fine stomatal lines, margins serrulate, apex abruptly subulate; sheath 2-4 cm, base persistent. Pollen cones ovoid to cylindric, to 25 mm, light purple-brown, aging orange-brown. Seed cones maturing in 2 years, gradually shedding seeds thereafter and moderately persistent, massive, heavy, drooping, asymmetric at base, narrowly ovoid before opening, ovoid-cylindric when open, 20-35 cm, pale yellow-brown, resinous, stalks to 3cm; apophyses transverse-rhombic, strongly and sharply cross-keeled, elongate, curved, continuous with umbos to form long, upcurved claws 2.5-3 cm. Seeds obovoid; body 15-22 mm, dark brown; wing to 25 mm. 2 n =24" (3).Range
USA: California and Mexico: Baja California Norte, at 300-2100 m. Found on " dry rocky slopes, flats, ridges, and chaparral, transitional to oak-pine woodland" (3). In Alta California, it occurs from Mount Diablo (E of San Francisco) S in scattered groves through the Santa Lucia, San Bernardino and San Jacinto Mountains to the Cuyamaca Mountains of San Diego County (2). In Baja California, it is found in isolated occurrences in the Sierra Juárez (e.g., one stand at 1250 m on Sierra Blanca, isolated colonies at 1500 m SW of Rancho San Faustino, and at 1800 m on hillsides immediately W and NW of Laguna Juárez) and in small stands on the Sierra San Pedro Mártir, where it is found on northern exposures at 1900-2150 m (4). See also (5).Big Tree
None designated as of 1996.Oldest
Dendrochronology
Ethnobotany
Observations
Seen on Mt. San Jacinto (east of Los Angeles) and in the Sierra San Pedro Martir of northern Baja, both times old growth forest in mixed conifer associations with Abies lowiana and Calocedrus decurrens .Remarks
Has the heaviest cone of any pine (3).Citations
(1) Silba 1986 .(2) Peattie 1950 .
(3) Robert Kral in Flora of North America online .
(4) Minnich 1987 .
(5) Robert S. Thompson, Katherine H. Anderson and Patrick J. Bartlein. 1999. Atlas of Relations Between Climatic Parameters and Distributions of Important Trees and Shrubs in North America. U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1650 A&B. URL= http://greenwood.cr.usgs.gov/pub/ppapers/p1650-a/pages/conifers.html , accessed 22-Jan-2000.
See also:
Farjon & Styles 1997
,
Perry 1991
,
Little 1980
and the
FEIS database
.
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This page is from the Gymnosperm Database
URL: http://www.geocities.com/~earlecj/pi/pin/coulteri.htm
Edited by Christopher J. Earle
E-mail:
earlecj@earthlink.com
Last modified on 24-Jan-2000