52. California Gray Pine

This pine is also called the Bull Pine, and has also in the past been referred to as another name which has been used as a slur against the native people of its home range and will be avoided in favor of the other names.

Specimen Size: 85.1ft tall, 21in in diameter.

Location: North of the Odegaard library above the steps, on the far west side of the green near the flagpole.

Historical Background: The cones of the California gray pine contain big edible "pine nuts", an important food for the Native Peoples of California. Gray pine is an apt, descriptive name. The specific scientific name commemorates Joseph Sabine (1770-1837), secretary of the Horticultural Society of London, an attorney, naturalist, and patron of David Douglas (of Douglas-fir fame). It’s former common name is a derogatory term for the Native Peoples of California. The wood is light, soft and brittle, and is not useful as lumber. The pitch was used as an adhesive and the twigs and rootlets were used as a sewing material for coiled and twined baskets. An essential oil called abietine is obtained by distilling the resin and is used as a cleaning agent and insecticide.

Non-native

Native Range: California

Identifying Features: This is one of the more elegant species of pine, a yellow pine like the Ponderosa seen latter in the tour and the Big cone Pine seen near the beginning (yellow pines are distinguished by their 3 needled fascicles, which may be used to form the letter Y as in yellow). She has slender drooping dull gray green needles which to an ear who grew up listening for them may be heard blowing in the breeze from hundreds of feet away (they sing with a soft sound like water flowing). The tree exhibits less apical control than many other pines, native to a dry harsh environment, it often exhibits a sparse foliage in its native California. The crown can be rounded or irregular, and like the Big Cone and Ponderosa it produces large armed cones which one would not want to be underneath when they drop.

Identifying Features In Depth:

1. Form: Trunk is often crooked and multi stemmed, with many forks and branches that range from ascending to drooping in nature. The crown is often open and irregular but can be rounded too, with little foliage in hotter climates. It rises from 40-70’ (12-21m), but can be much larger in favorable habitats. The diameter can reach up to 4’ (1.2m).

2. Leaves: Needles are evergreen and grow in fascicles of 3. They are a soft delicate blue-green or gray-green, with many white lines, slender, elegant, and drooping, softer to the touch than many pines.

3. Bark: A dull dark grey which is thick and irregularly formed into scaly ridges divided by furrows and becoming shaggy with age, On branches it is smooth and light gray. The bark provides a degree of protection against fires common in its native range.

4. Reproductive Bodies: Cones are large, 6-10” (15-25cm) in length, egg shaped and sometimes slightly 1-sided. They are brown and bent downwards on short stalks, remaining on the tree for many years. The scales are thick and sharply keeled, armed with a stout curved spine. Large elliptical seeds are released when opened, with a detachable wing. These are edible and extremely high in protein.