Pinus longaeva
Pinus torreyana
bristlecone pine, Great Basin bristlecone pine, intermountain bristlecone pine
Del Mar pine, island Torrey pine, soledad pine, Torrey pine
red-brown, shallowly to deeply fissured with thick, scaly, irregular, blocky ridges.
red-brown to purple-red, deeply furrowed with irregular, elongate, flat, scaly ridges.
contorted, pendent;
twigs pale red-brown, aging gray to yellow-gray, puberulent, young branches resembling long bottlebrushes because of persistent leaves.
irregular, spreading-ascending, candelabralike;
twigs stout (1–2cm thick), greenish, aging deep gray-brown to near black, rough.
ovoid-acuminate, pale red-brown, ca. 1cm, resinous.
conic-ovoid, pale brown, to 2.5cm;
scale margins white-fringed.
mostly 5 per fascicle, upcurved, persisting 10–30 years, 1.5–3.5cm × 0.8–1.2mm, mostly connivent, deep yellow-green, with few resin splotches but often scurfy with pale scales, abaxial surface without median groove but with 2 subepidermal but evident resin bands, adaxial surfaces conspicuously whitened with stomates, margins entire or remotely and finely serrulate distally, apex bluntly acute to short-acuminate;
sheath ca. 1cm, soon forming rosette, 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.
cylindro-ellipsoid, 7–10mm, purple-red.
ovoid, 20–30mm, yellow.
cones maturing in 2 years, shedding seeds and falling soon thereafter, spreading, symmetric, lance-cylindric with rounded base before opening, lance-cylindric to narrowly ovoid when open, 6–9.5cm, purple, aging red-brown, nearly sessile;
apophyses much thickened, sharply keeled;
umbo central, raised on low buttress, truncate to umbilicate, abruptly narrowed to slender but stiff, variable prickle 1–6mm, resin exudate pale.
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.
Pinus longaeva
Pinus torreyana
Pinus longaeva is considered by dendrochronologists to be the longest-lived tree. One tree was estimated to be 5000 years old.
(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 |
CA
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
