Bishop pine

Pinus muricata

The bishop pine ( Pinus muricata ) is a native to California and Mexico plant species of the genus pine (Pinus ).

Features

Pinus muricata is a small tree, the plant height 4-20 m reaches and branches deep and irregular. The crown consists of deep, open and very irregular. The lower branches are long, often touching the ground. The bark is thick occupied in the lower crown area with deep vertical cracks and purple with brown scales. On young trees, and in the upper stem region of old trees the bark is light gray-brown and relatively smooth. The branches are thick, stiff, gray-brown, rough, smooth later.

The needle leaves are in clusters on short shoots for two; the sheaths are pale brown, 10 to 12 mm long, later becoming shorter and almost negligible. They are mainly at the end of branches. The needle like leaves are thick, stiff, erect, 10-16 cm long. The margin is finely serrated. There are two to 14 are present ( in section 7.6 ) resin canals. There are two distinctly separate vascular bundles.

The cones are brown, the cone scales terminate in a small, triangular, sharp thorns. They are in groups of two to five of thick, stiff, upright stems.

The cones are erect, sitting, brown, ovate to inverted conical. They are 5 to 8 cm long. They are used alone or two or five. The cones remain after ripening for several years on the road. The scales are hard, rigid.

The seeds are small, 5-6 mm long, dark brown. Seed wing is 10 to 15 mm long. The number of cotyledons is usually five. To one kilogram are around 103,000 seeds.

The wood is hard. The sapwood is creamy white, the heartwood is light brown slightly.

Occurrence

Pinus muricata has a very limited distribution. It comes in small, scattered populations on the Pacific coast of California before and at two locations in the Mexican state of Baja California Norte near San Vicente.

This species grows in coastal areas at altitudes of 30 to 50 m in dry, but often foggy locations.

Documents

• Jesse P. Perry: The Pines of Mexico and Central America. Timber Press, Portland, 1991, pp. 161ff. ISBN 0-88192-174-2