Pinus flexilis
Pinus radiata
limber pine, pin blanc de l'ouest
insignis pine, Monterey pine
gray, nearly smooth, cross-checked in age into scaly plates and ridges.
gray, deeply V-furrowed, furrow bases red, ridges irregularly elongate-rectangular, their flattened surfaces scaly.
spreading to ascending, often persistent to trunk base;
twigs pale red-brown, puberulous (rarely glabrous), slightly resinous, aging gray, smooth.
level to downcurved or ascending, poorly self-pruning;
twigs slender, red-brown, sometimes glaucous, aging gray, rough.
ovoid, light red-brown, 0.9–1cm, resinous;
lower scales ciliolate along margins.
ovoid to ovoid-cylindric, red-brown, ca. 1.5cm, resinous.
5 per fascicle, spreading to upcurved and ascending, persisting 5–6 years, 3–7cm × 1–1.5mm, pliant, dark green, abaxial surface with less conspicuous stomatal bands than adaxial surfaces, adaxial surfaces with strong, pale stomatal bands, margins finely serrulate, apex conic-acute to acuminate;
sheath 1–1.5(–2)cm, shed early.
(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.
broadly ellipsoid-cylindric, ca. 15mm, pale red or yellow.
ellipsoid-cylindric, 10–15mm, orange-brown.
cones maturing in 2 years, shedding seeds and falling soon thereafter, spreading, symmetric, lance-ovoid before opening, cylindro-ovoid when open, 7–15cm, straw-colored, resinous, sessile to short-stalked, apophyses much thickened, strongly cross-keeled, umbo terminal, depressed.
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.
=24.
=24.
Pinus flexilis
Pinus radiata
Pinus flexilis, much branched with a strongly tapering trunk, is little utilized because of its form and relative inaccessibility. It reportedly forms intermediates with P. strobiformis where the two overlap. The fresh-cut wood has the odor of turpentine.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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).
Of conservation concern.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
BC
CA
OR
Flora NW
PNW Herbaria
SW CO Wildflowers
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
