Scientific name: Pinus radiata D.Don 1837

Synonyms: Pinus adunca Bosc. ex Poir., Pinus californica Loisel., Pinus insignis Douglas ex Loudon, Pinus montereyensis Rauch. ex Gordon, Pinus rigida Hook. & Arn., Pinus sinclairii Hook. & Arn., Pinus tuberculata D.Don

Common names: Cedros Island pine, Guadalupe Island pine, Insignis pine, Monterey pine, Radiata pine

Description

Tree to 30(-40) m tall, with trunk to 1(-2) m in diameter. Bark with irregular, dark grayish brown ridges separated by shallow to deep reddish brown furrows. Crown a deep, cylindrical dome or open and irregular on exposed headlands, with numerous upwardly angled branches densely clothed with tufts of foliage only near the tips. Twigs reddish brown, hairless, sometimes a little waxy. Buds 8-15 mm long, variably resinous. Needles in bundles of two or three (to five), each needle 8-15(-20) cm long, stiff and a little twisted, lasting 3-4 years, bright green to dark yellowish green. Individual needles with lines of stomates on both the inner and outer faces, a two-stranded midvein, and one to five (to eight) discontinuous resin canals deep within the leaf tissue, or even one or two touching the endodermis surrounding the midvein. Sheath (0.5-)1-2 cm long, persisting and falling with the bundle. Pollen cones 10-20 mm long, yellowish brown. Seed cones (5-)7-15(-19) cm long, asymmetrically or symmetrically egg-shaped, with 90-180 seed scales, green before maturity, ripening pale reddish brown, usually retained and remaining closed after maturity for several to many years until after a fire, on a short stalk to 1(-1.5) cm long. Seed scales paddle-shaped, the exposed portion thin and low on small, symmetrical cones, forming thick domes on the outer side of the base of large, asymmetrical cones, the umbo diamond-shaped, a little indented with a central bump or short-lived prickle. Seed body 5-8 mm long, mottled, the easily detachable wing 15-30 mm long.

Adjacent to the Pacific Ocean in five areas from Año Nuevo Point to Cambria, California, and on Guadalupe and Cedros Islands, Baja California (Mexico). Forming open or dense pure coastal closed-cone pine forests in the fog belt; 10-800(-1,160) m.

Conservation Status

Red List Category & Criteria: Endangered

(Based on the assessments of the two varieties, it is considered that although the large subpopulation on Cedros Island (Pinus radiata var. binata) appears stable, the situation on the mainland (Pinus radiata var. radiata) is more severe and in total the population is in continuing decline. There are no more than five locations and the population is severely fragmented. With a combined area of occupancy of less than 30 km² the species meets B2 for Endangered)

References

Farjon, A. (2010). A Handbook of the World's Conifers. Koninklijke Brill, Leiden.

Eckenwalder, J.E. (2009) Conifers of the World: The Complete Reference. Timber Press, Portland.

IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources. Cambridge, UK /Gland, Switzerland