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 on the flanks of

Mt. Konocti Mount Konocti is a volcano in Lake County, California on the south shore of Clear Lake. At , it is the second highest peak in the Clear Lake Volcanic Field, which consists of numerous volcanic domes and cones ranging from 10,000 to 2.1 million ...

and Black Diamond Mines Regional Preserve. It is named after Thomas Coulter, an Irish botanist 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

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, which ...

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 n ...

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 a ...

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

s when working in Coulter pine groves, although the slender cones of the sugar pine 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'' (sometimes spelled ''P. sabineana''), with vernacular names including towani pine, foothill pine, gray pine, bull pine, and digger pine, is a pine endemic to California in the United States. Some sources discourage using the n ...

, ''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 Calif ...

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 t ...

. 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 The San Jacinto Mountains (''Avii Hanupach''Munro, P., et al. ''A Mojave Dictionary''. Los Angeles: UCLA. 1992. in Mojave) are a mountain range in Riverside County, located east of Los Angeles in southern California in the United States. The mou ...

Coulter Pine is co-dominant with the California black oak.

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 region ...

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 (No ...

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 Mon ...

, California Coastal Range 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