Common Names

Coulter, bigcone, nut or pitch pine (Peattie 1950).

Taxonomic notes

Description

"Trees to 24 m; trunk to 1 m diam., straight to contorted; crown broad, thin, irregular. Bark dark gray-brown to near black, deeply furrowed, with long, scaly, irregularly anastomosing, rounded ridges. Branches often ascending; twigs stout to moderately slender, violet-brown, often glaucous, aging gray-brown, rough. Buds ovoid, deep red-brown, 1.5(-3) cm, resinous; scale margins white-fringed, apex cuspidate. Leaves 3 per fascicle, slightly spreading, not drooping, mostly ascending in a brush, persisting 3-4 years, 15-30 cm x ca. 2 mm, slightly curved or straight, twisted, dusty gray-green, all surfaces with pale, fine stomatal lines, margins serrulate, apex abruptly subulate; sheath 2-4 cm, base persistent. Pollen cones ovoid to cylindric, to 25 mm, light purple-brown, aging orange-brown. Seed cones maturing in 2 years, gradually shedding seeds thereafter and moderately persistent, massive, heavy, drooping, asymmetric at base, narrowly ovoid before opening, ovoid-cylindric when open, 20-35 cm, pale yellow-brown, resinous, stalks to 3cm; apophyses transverse-rhombic, strongly and sharply cross-keeled, elongate, curved, continuous with umbos to form long, upcurved claws 2.5-3 cm. Seeds obovoid; body 15-22 mm, dark brown; wing to 25 mm. 2n=24" (Kral 1993).

Range

USA: California and Mexico: Baja California Norte, at 300-2100 m. Found on " dry rocky slopes, flats, ridges, and chaparral, transitional to oak-pine woodland" (Kral 1993). In Alta California, it occurs from Mount Diablo (E of San Francisco) S in scattered groves through the Santa Lucia, San Bernardino and San Jacinto Mountains to the Cuyamaca Mountains of San Diego County (Peattie 1950). In Baja California, it is found in isolated occurrences in the Sierra Juárez (e.g., one stand at 1250 m on Sierra Blanca, isolated colonies at 1500 m SW of Rancho San Faustino, and at 1800 m on hillsides immediately W and NW of Laguna Juárez) and in small stands on the Sierra San Pedro Mártir, where it is found on northern exposures at 1900-2150 m (Minnich 1987). See also Thompson et al. (1999).

Big Tree

Diameter 209 inches, height 80 feet, crown spread 78 feet, near Julian, California (American Forests 2000). I'm not sure where it is but I know it grows right along the California state highway that runs through town, within a couple of miles of the town.

Oldest

Dendrochronology

Ethnobotany

Observations

Vladimir Dinets (e-mail 18-Oct-2003) reports that "An impressive stand of very large Pinus coulteri, Abies bracteata, and (surprise!) Pinus lambertiana can be seen by driving to the end of Cone Peak Rd. (about a mile past Summit trailhead), and walking the only trail there for less than 5 min. knobcone and ponderosa pines are also present there." For additional guidance: this stand is in the Santa Lucia Mountains (which also harbor the southernmost wild specimens of Sequoia sempervirens). Information on the Cone Peak Road and Summit Trail is available from Los Padres National Forest.

Also seen on Mt. San Jacinto (east of Los Angeles) and in the Sierra San Pedro Martir of northern Baja, both times old growth forest in mixed conifer associations with Abies concolor and Calocedrus decurrens. In the southern Laguna Mountains (east of San Diego), it forms pure stands or stands with P. jeffreyi and, as a consequence of fires, the stands vary widely in age from recent burns to large, mature trees. Also in the Laguna Mountains, it often grows in association with oaks, and the acorn woodpeckers store vast quantities of acorns in holes pecked out in Coulter and Jeffrey pine bark. My notes from that trip (spring 2001) record:

"We collect Coulter pine cones in the Laguna Mountains (32° 50.189' N, 116° 27.047' W ). They come from a young stand that recently carried a ground fire. Trees are fairly dense, may have been planted. Most are 15-35 cm dbh, 10-13 m tall. These cones are borne either sessile or stalked, and they tend to be borne sessile near the trunk or stalked near the outer branch ends (halfway out to 90% of the way out), though they are never borne right at the branch tips - I expect their weight would break off a young branch."

Remarks

Has the heaviest cone of any pine (Kral 1993).

See Also

Farjon & Styles 1997.

Perry 1991.

Little 1980.

FEIS database.