pines

genus Pinus

Member of pine family (family Pinaceae)
conifers (order Pinales)

Except for extremely rare examples that I don't expect to encounter, there are no other wild species of this genus in the bay area.

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Key features:

• number of leaves [needles] per bundle
• leaf rigid or flexible and drooping
• seed cone color
• proximal seed cone scale tips recurved and elongated or not
• seed cone scale tips with knob angled or rounded, < or > 2 cm
• seed cones persistent on stems for many years or deciduous

All local pines are “hard pines” (subgenus Pinus). For these, the (brown) sheath for the leaf bundle is retained, not deciduous.

CalFlora lists many pines in the bay area, but for now I will confine this list to the less rare ones (> 25 CalFlora records).

Parasitized by pine galls.

torrey pine
Pinus torreyana

• 5 leaves per bundle (although often 3 in young trees)

stone pine
Pinus pinea

• 2 leaves per bundle

Toxicity of pine tree (Pinus spp.):
0 – Non-toxic.

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2 observed taxons / 5 unobserved taxons / 1 key

Chris’s observations: 5 (none are research grade)

Locations:

• Henry Coe SP: 2
• Mt. Diablo SP: 2
• McNee Ranch / Montara Mountain SP

Months:

• Mar.: 1
• Apr.: 0
• May: 1
• Jun.: 0
• Jul.: 0
• Aug.: 1
• Sep.: 0
• Oct.: 0
• Nov.: 2

For more details, use advanced search.

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Taxon info: iNaturalist – Calflora – Jepson eFlora – FNA

Bay Area species: iNaturalist – Calflora