The Coulter pine or big-cone pine, ''Pinus coulteri'', is a native of the coastal mountains of

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most populous urban ...

in the United States and northern

Baja California Baja California (; 'Lower California'), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California), is a state in Mexico. It is the northernmost and westernmost of the 32 federal entities of Mex ...

in Mexico. Isolated groves are found as far north as

Clearlake, California Clearlake is a city in Lake County, California. Clearlake is north-northwest of Lower Lake, at an elevation of . As of the 2020 census, the city had a total population of 16,685, up from 15,250 in 2010. It takes its name from Clear Lake. ...

on the flanks of Mt. Konocti and

Black Diamond Mines Regional Preserve The Black Diamond Mines Regional Preserve is a park located north of Mount Diablo in Contra Costa County, California under the administration of the East Bay Regional Park District (EBRPD). The district acquired the property in 1973. The preser ...

. It is named after

Thomas Coulter Thomas Coulter (1793–1843), of Dundalk, was an Irish physician, botanist and explorer. He was a member of the Royal Irish Academy, a fellow of Trinity College, Dublin, and founder of that college's herbarium. After completing a medical degree ...

, an Irish

botanist Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek wo ...

and physician. The Coulter pine produces the heaviest cone of any pine tree, up to . Although it has a limited range in the wild, the Coulter pine is a popular ornamental tree and is grown in many countries.

Description

''Pinus coulteri'' is a substantial

coniferous Conifers are a group of cone-bearing seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a single extant class, Pinopsida. All ext ...

evergreen In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has foliage that remains green and functional through more than one growing season. This also pertains to plants that retain their foliage only in warm climates, and contrasts with deciduous plants, whic ...

tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that are ...

in the

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

Pinus A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. The World Flora Online created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanical Garden ...

''. The size ranges from tall, and a trunk diameter up to . The trunk is vertical and branches horizontal to upcurved. The

leaves A leaf ( : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, st ...

are needle-like, in bundles of three, glaucous gray-green, long and stout, thick. The outstanding characteristic of this tree is the large, spiny cones which are long, 23 centimeters (nine inches) in width, and weigh when fresh. Coulter pines produce the largest cones of any pine tree species and people are advised to wear

hardhat A hard hat is a type of helmet predominantly used in workplace environments such as industrial or construction sites to protect the head from injury due to falling objects, impact with other objects, debris, rain, and electric shock. Suspen ...

s when working in Coulter pine groves, although the slender cones of the

sugar pine ''Pinus lambertiana'' (commonly known as the sugar pine or sugar cone pine) is the tallest and most massive pine tree, and has the longest cones of any conifer. The species name ''lambertiana'' was given by the Scottish botanist David Douglas, ...

are longer. The large size of the cones has earned them the nickname "widowmakers" among locals.

Ecology

The Coulter pine is closely related to the foothill pine, ''Pinus sabiniana''. It is more distantly related to

Jeffrey pine ''Pinus jeffreyi'', also known as Jeffrey pine, Jeffrey's pine, yellow pine and black pine, is a North American pine tree. It is mainly found in California, but also in the westernmost part of Nevada, southwestern Oregon, and northern Baja Califo ...

with which it shares habitats, and the

ponderosa pine ''Pinus ponderosa'', commonly known as the ponderosa pine, bull pine, blackjack pine, western yellow-pine, or filipinus pine is a very large pine tree species of variable habitat native to mountainous regions of western North America. It is the ...

. Coulter pines tend to grow in drier environments than ponderosa and Jeffery pines. This erect, medium-sized

pine A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family (biology), family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. The World Flora Online created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanic ...

prefers south-facing slopes between elevation, and tolerates dry rocky soil. ''Pinus coulteri'' most often appears in mixed forests. The Coulter pine occurs in a number of forest

plant association A plant community is a collection or association of plant species within a designated geographical unit, which forms a relatively uniform patch, distinguishable from neighboring patches of different vegetation types. The components of each plant ...

s; for example, At higher elevations forestation of the San Jacinto Mountains Coulter Pine is co-dominant with the

California black oak ''Quercus kelloggii'', the California black oak, also known as Kellogg oak, is an oak in the red oak section (genus ''Quercus'', section ''Lobatae'', series ''Agrifoliae''), native to western North America. Although genetically separated from the ...

Woodpecker Woodpeckers are part of the bird family Picidae, which also includes the piculets, wrynecks, and sapsuckers. Members of this family are found worldwide, except for Australia, New Guinea, New Zealand, Madagascar, and the extreme polar regions ...

s often forage on the species, and peel the bark to access insects underneath.

Uses

Wildlife, especially squirrels, gather the large seeds. They were also once eaten by Native Americans. The wood is weak and soft, so that the species is little used other than for firewood. ''Pinus coulteri'' is cultivated as an

ornamental tree Ornamental plants or garden plants are plants that are primarily grown for their beauty but also for qualities such as scent or how they shape physical space. Many flowering plants and garden varieties tend to be specially bred cultivars that ...

, planted in parks and large gardens, and drought tolerant landscaping. The Coulter pine has gained the

Royal Horticultural Society The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity. The RHS promotes horticulture through its five gardens at Wisley (Surrey), Hyde Hall (Essex), Harlow Carr (Nor ...

Award of Garden Merit The Award of Garden Merit (AGM) is a long-established annual award for plants by the British Royal Horticultural Society (RHS). It is based on assessment of the plants' performance under UK growing conditions. History The Award of Garden Merit ...

Gallery

Male cone of Coulter pine.jpg, Mature coulter pine.jpg, Mature tree, as seen from under branches at ground level bark of Culter Pine.jpg, Crw 1691-web.jpg, Cones on groind.jpg, Coulter_Pine_cone.jpg, Large cone, found at 4,150 ft elevation in the Santa Lucia Ranger District of the

Los Padres National Forest Los Padres National Forest is a United States national forest in southern and central California. Administered by the United States Forest Service, Los Padres includes most of the mountainous land along the California coast from Ventura to Mo ...

California Coastal Range The Coast Ranges of California span from Del Norte or Humboldt County, California, south to Santa Barbara County. The other three coastal California mountain ranges are the Transverse Ranges, Peninsular Ranges and the Klamath Mountains. P ...

of the Central Coast. Large Coulter Pine cone.jpg, Exceptional cone example, shown with needle cluster (soda can for scale). Coulter cone.jpg, Pinus coulteri MHNT Cone.jpg, Cone closeup.jpg, Barb detail 2.jpg, Barb detail 1.jpg, Pinus coulteri MHNT.jpg, Pinus coulteri Ice House Canyon.jpg, A view of the upper portion of a mature Coulter Pine.

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * * *

External links

*
Jepson Manual Treatment

USDA Plants Profile for ''Pinus coulteri'' (Coulter pine)
* {{Taxonbar, from=Q1137001 Pinus Pinus taxa by common names Pine, Coulter Pine, Coulter Flora of California Natural history of the California chaparral and woodlands Natural history of the California Coast Ranges Natural history of the Peninsular Ranges Natural history of the Transverse Ranges ~ ~ ~ Decorative fruits and seeds Garden plants of North America Ornamental trees Drought-tolerant trees