Pinus coulteri
Common name:
Coulter Pine
Bigcone Pine
Pronunciation:
PI-nus kol-TER-ee-eye
Family:
Pinaceae
Genus:
Type:
Conifer
Native to (or naturalized in) Oregon:
No
- Evergreen conifer with a height range of 33-79 ft (10-24 m), open growth with wide spreading lower branches. Trunk vertical and branches horizontal to up curved. Buds resinous. Needles (leaves) 3 per bundle, slightly spreading, not drooping, 15-30 cm long and only 2 mm wide, dusty gray-green, all surfaces with pale, fine stomatal lines, margins serrulate. Pollen cones ovoid to cylindric, to 25 mm, light purple-brown, aging orange-brown. Seed cones mature in 2 years, massive, heavy (one of the heaviest of any pine), drooping, ovoid-cylindric when open, 20-35 cm long, pale yellow-brown, resinous.
- Sun, resistant to heat, wind and drought. Good in the high desert. Cones are heavy and potentially dangerous.
- Hardy to USDA Zone 8 Native range extends from the California's Central Coast, east of San Francisco, down to the South Coast and just into Baja California.
- coulteri: after the tree's discover (1831), Thomas Coulter (1793–1843), an Irish physician, botanist and explorer.
Click image to enlarge
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plant habit
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branch, needles
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needles and cone
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needle bundle
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trunk, bark
