The Torrey pine (''Pinus torreyana'') is a rare

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 ...

species in

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

. It is a critically endangered species growing only in coastal

San Diego County San Diego County (), officially the County of San Diego, is a county in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,298,634, making it California's second-most populous county and the f ...

, and on Santa Rosa Island, offshore from Santa Barbara in Santa Barbara County. The Torrey pine is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...

to the California coastal sage and chaparral ecoregion.

Taxonomy

The species epithet ''torreyana'' is named for

John Torrey John Torrey (August 15, 1796 – March 10, 1873) was an American botanist, chemist, and physician. Throughout much of his career, he was a teacher of chemistry, often at multiple universities, while he also pursued botanical work, focusing on t ...

, an American botanist, after whom the coniferous genus '' Torreya'' is also named.

Description

''Pinus torreyana'' is a broad, open-crowned

tree growing to tall in the wild, with long leaves ('needles') in groups of five. The cones are stout and heavy, typically long and broad, and contain large, hard-shelled, but edible, pine nuts. Like all pines, its needles are clustered into ' fascicles' that have a particular number of needles for each pine species; in the Torrey pine there are five needles in each fascicle. Like all pines, it has strobili, structures that function as a flower but look like a small cone, which for the Torrey pine look like a yellow bud in a male strobilus and like a small red cone in a female. Torrey pines are sometimes afflicted with witch's broom (or "gorilla's nest"), an unusually dense cluster of needles that looks somewhat like a bird's nest, caused by disease or other causes. There are two

subspecies In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics ( morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all specie ...

or varieties. These are said to be distinguished by the following characteristics, as well as possibly differing in the terpenoid (beta-

phellandrene Phellandrenes are a pair of organic compounds that have a similar molecular structure and similar chemical properties. α-Phellandrene and β-phellandrene are cyclic monoterpenes and are double-bond isomers. In α-phellandrene, both double bon ...

, limonene, cineole, etc.) profile.

Distribution

The extant population of ''Pinus torreyana'' is restricted to trees growing in a narrow strip along the

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 ...

coast in

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...

. There is also a population of the variety ''Pinus torreyana'' var. ''insularis'' in two groves on Santa Rosa Island, a California

Channel Island The Channel Islands ( nrf, Îles d'la Manche; french: îles Anglo-Normandes or ''îles de la Manche'') are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two Crown Dependencies: the Bailiwick of Jersey, ...

off the coast of Santa Barbara. The presence of Torrey pines along the semi-arid coast of San Diego and Santa Rosa Island (rainfall less than 15 inches per year) is probably a

relict population In biogeography and paleontology, a relict is a population or taxon of organisms that was more widespread or more diverse in the past. A relictual population is a population currently inhabiting a restricted area whose range was far wider during a ...

of a much more extensive Ice Age distribution. Coastal fog during spring and summer along the San Diego and Santa Rosa Island coast provides just enough moisture to supplement the fairly low winter rainfall, allowing for survival of the species in the wild habitat zone.

Ecology

The native

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

of ''Pinus torreyana'' is

coastal sage scrub Coastal sage scrub, also known as coastal scrub, CSS, or soft chaparral, is a low scrubland plant community of the California coastal sage and chaparral subecoregion, found in coastal California and northwestern coastal Baja California. It is ...

, a plant community, growing slowly in dry, sandy soil. The root system is extensive. A tiny seedling may quickly send a taproot down seeking moisture and nutrients. A mature tree may have roots extending . Exposed trees battered by coastal winds are often twisted into beautiful sculptural shapes resembling large

bonsai Bonsai ( ja, 盆栽, , tray planting, ) is the Japanese art of growing and training miniature trees in pots, developed from the traditional Chinese art form of '' penjing''. Unlike ''penjing'', which utilizes traditional techniques to produc ...

, and rarely exceed tall. The seeds are eaten by birds and rodents. Like most pine tree species, the seeds have a wing attached to them, but in this species it is papery, breaks off easily, and is entirely non-functional, so this tree is entirely reliant upon animals to disperse its seeds. The scrub jay ('' Aphelocoma californica'') is the most important species when it comes to dispersal of the seeds (on the mainland). Scrub jays and perhaps also squirrels are thought to be spreading the species into adjacent parklands from gardens around San Diego. The caterpillars of the moth ''

Gloveria arizonensis ''Gloveria'' is a genus of moths in the family Lasiocampidae. The genus was erected by Packard in 1872. All the species in the genus are from southern North America. Species *''Gloveria arizonensis'' Packard, 1872 California - Texas, Colorado, U ...

'' have been confirmed to feed on this tree in the wild. Stratification, which is the process of subjecting seeds to (moist) cold, encourages

germination Germination is the process by which an organism grows from a seed or spore. The term is applied to the sprouting of a seedling from a seed of an angiosperm or gymnosperm, the growth of a sporeling from a spore, such as the spores of fungi, fe ...

in Torrey pine seeds

Uses

Food

The pine nuts were once eaten by the

Kumeyaay The Kumeyaay, also known as Tipai-Ipai or by their historical Spanish name Diegueño, is a tribe of Indigenous peoples of the Americas who live at the northern border of Baja California in Mexico and the southern border of California in the Unit ...

tribe of Native American people.

Cultivation

Although considered

endangered An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and in ...

in the wild, Torrey pine is often planted 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 ...

around

, coastal and inland southern California, and even the Central Valley. A single tree planted in a suburb of San Diego in the 1940s or 1950s has grown tall and straight, and to a large size, . Shipley Nature Center states it can grow to in height in cultivation. It is sold by at least ten different plant nurseries in California as of 2020.

Forestry

''Pinus torreyana'' has been considered as a

plantation A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. Th ...

tree for

forestry Forestry is the science and craft of creating, managing, planting, using, conserving and repairing forests, woodlands, and associated resources for human and environmental benefits. Forestry is practiced in plantations and natural stands. ...

use in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island coun ...

and

Kenya ) , national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

Culture

it is considered a local icon, where it lends its name to Torrey Pines State Reserve,

Torrey Pines State Beach Torrey Pines State Beach is a public beach located in the San Diego, California community of Torrey Pines, south of Del Mar and north of La Jolla. Coastal erosion from the adjacent Torrey Pines State Reserve makes for a picturesque landscape. I ...

, Torrey Pines Golf Course, Torrey Pines High School, and Torrey Pines Gliderport, as well as numerous local roads and businesses (e.g., Torrey Pines Bank, Torrey Pines Property Management Company, Torrey Pines Landscape Company, and Torrey Pines Law Group.)

Conservation

There is some disagreement about the total population of ''Pinus torreyana''. In general, only the populations in Torrey Pines State Reserve (TPSR) and on Santa Rosa Island are deemed to count as the wild population, not the trees planted around San Diego and wider California. In the 1970s it was estimated that the population in the TPSR and on Santa Rosa Island was about 9,000 individuals, but many of these trees have since died due to

forest fire A wildfire, forest fire, bushfire, wildland fire or rural fire is an unplanned, uncontrolled and unpredictable fire in an area of combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire may be more specifically identi ...

s, drought and a series of infestations of a

bark beetle A bark beetle is the common name for the subfamily of beetles Scolytinae. Previously, this was considered a distinct family (Scolytidae), but is now understood to be a specialized clade of the "true weevil" family (Curculionidae). Although the ...

, as well as being stressed by

air pollution Air pollution is the contamination of air due to the presence of substances in the atmosphere that are harmful to the health of humans and other living beings, or cause damage to the climate or to materials. There are many different type ...

. There were only a hundred trees surviving in the early 20th century. As of 2016 it is thought by the California Native Plant Society that the population of this species is some 3,000 individuals. In 2011, Aljos Farjon, assessing the conservation status of this species for the

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

, estimated that the total population of ''P. torreyana'' was now 4,500 individuals. He states that there is a slow decline of the numbers, especially of the trees not found within the TPSR on the mainland. The Torrey pine is protected by a city tree ordinance in Del Mar, near the native habitat, and construction projects and citizens require a permit for its removal.

Gallery

File:Torrey Pine Cones.jpg, Torrey pine: female

pine cones A conifer cone (in formal botanical usage: strobilus, plural strobili) is a seed-bearing organ on gymnosperm plants. It is usually woody, ovoid to globular, including scales and bracts arranged around a central axis, especially in conifers ...

File:Torrey Pine Grove.jpg, A wild Torrey pine grove, Santa Rosa Island, California File:111101 LPL both strobili end AUT 025.jpg, Strobili on a Torrey pine File:Torrey Pine Bark Mature.jpg, Torrey pine mature bark and nameplate in Mildred E. Mathias Botanical Garden, Los Angeles, California

References

External links

USDA PLANTS entry

USDA Plants Profile: ''Pinus torreyana''

Torrey Pines State Reserve

Calscape, California Native Plant Society: Torrey Pine (''Pinus torreyana'')

Jepson Manual Treatment: ''Pinus torreyana''

''Pinus torreyana'' Photo gallery
{{Taxonbar, from=Q2746149 Pinus Pinus taxa by common names Endemic flora of California Trees of the Southwestern United States Natural history of the California chaparral and woodlands Natural history of the Channel Islands of California Natural history of San Diego County, California Taxa named by Charles Christopher Parry Taxa named by Élie-Abel Carrière Edible nuts and seeds Trees of Mediterranean climate