Pinus flexilis
Pinus torreyana
limber pine, pin blanc de l'ouest
Del Mar pine, island Torrey pine, soledad pine, Torrey pine
gray, nearly smooth, cross-checked in age into scaly plates and ridges.
red-brown to purple-red, deeply furrowed with irregular, elongate, flat, scaly ridges.
spreading to ascending, often persistent to trunk base;
twigs pale red-brown, puberulous (rarely glabrous), slightly resinous, aging gray, smooth.
irregular, spreading-ascending, candelabralike;
twigs stout (1–2cm thick), greenish, aging deep gray-brown to near black, rough.
ovoid, light red-brown, 0.9–1cm, resinous;
lower scales ciliolate along margins.
conic-ovoid, pale brown, to 2.5cm;
scale margins white-fringed.
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.
mostly 5 per fascicle, ascending or spreading, persisting 3–4 years, 15–30cm × ca. 2mm, straight or curved, slightly twisted, dull gray-green, all surfaces with fine stomatal lines, margins serrulate, apex abruptly acute;
sheath to 2cm, shed early, base persistent.
broadly ellipsoid-cylindric, ca. 15mm, pale red or yellow.
ovoid, 20–30mm, yellow.
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 3 years, shedding seeds soon thereafter, persisting to 5 years, lateral, massive, heavy, symmetric, ovoid before opening, broadly ovoid when open, 10–15cm, yellow- to red-brown, lustrous, stalks to 4cm;
apophyses thick, angulately dome-shaped, with 5 low convergent keels;
umbo central, forming short, curved-tipped pyramid.
=24.
Pinus flexilis
Pinus torreyana
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 torreyana is a rare and local Tertiary relic species whose present range is reduced to two small areas of southern California: near Del Mar (San Diego County) and on the northeastern shore of Santa Rosa Island (Santa Barbara County). Its distribution in Oligocene and Miocene (or at least that of its near ancestor) extended north to Oregon. Its harsh natural habitat elicits an unusually contorted and often sparse form, quite unlike the cleaner and taller form the species takes in cultivation.
In terms of numbers of individuals in the wild, as well as the small area occupied by natural populations, Pinus torreyana is without a doubt the rarest North American pine. As such it is under protection. Artificial crosses between it and another, more widespread Tertiary relic, P. sabiniana, have been successful.
Subspecies 2.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
1. Crown of sheltered tree narrower than height of mature tree, open with well-spaced branches in natural sites; seed cones less than 13.5 cm broad, as broad as long or longer; only tip of umbo curved outward; maximum seed width ca. 12 mm. | subsp. torreyana |
1. Crown of sheltered tree broader than height of mature tree, compact in natural sites; seed cones mostly more than 13.5 cm broad, broader than long; entire umbo curved outward; maximum seed width ca. 14 mm. | subsp. insularis |
BC
CA
OR
Flora NW
PNW Herbaria
SW CO Wildflowers
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
