Pinus muricata, the Bishop Pine

Pinus muricata, D. Don, 1836

The tree at Cobtree Manor Park appears to have almost collapsed - perhaps being originally on a very short bole (about a metre in this tree) as described in the Collins book. The long needles and chunky cones suggested the possibility of a fire-adapted American Pine, and the sharp spines on the cone scales pushed it towards Pinus muricata,and because of the dark green rather than the somewhat blueish foliage of var. borealis, this is perhaps likely to be var. muricata.

The species is very restricted in its native habitat, and it is confined to a few (only 7 !) cliff-tops and islands. In addition, var. muricata is only found in the 5 southern-most stands, while var. borealis is found in the Northern 2 stands. Despite repeated attempts, no hybrids between the two varieties have been produced to date. The name Bishop Pine seems likely to have come from its original first known location, near the Mission at San Luis Obispo. It has also been called the Obispo Pine, the Prickle Cone Pine, the Santa Cruz Pine, and the Dwarf Marine Pine.

The bark could well be said to be blackish, although I would have perhaps preferred the description very dark grey. The buds did look somewhat reddish, definitely with appressed scales, and I would have said the intensity of their colour had been quite noticeably dulled with white resin (pictured above), making them a rather lifeless pinky-brown to the eye, about 3 cm long. The leaves were all in pairs, stiff and curled, quite fitting the Collins description. Here is a picture taken in October 2014 of a shoot with what I think must be developing female cones at the tip:

Mitchell states: "All leaf surfaces with stomatal lines, margins strongly serrulate, apex abruptly conic-acute; sheath to 1.5 cm, base persistent"

The cones were suitably large, certainly nearer 10 than 5 cm. The prickles on the cones are said in Collins to be small, but I would have said they were rather noticeable! None of the cones seemed to be open, but I should check that next time!

The Bishop Pine can be found in some large gardens, and has also been trialled in a few plantations (according to dyplant on ispot, there could be a plantation close to New Road, West Blean Wood). It seems to do better in the damper and milder SW, and it has been successfully planted on a reasonable scale at Wareham, Dorset. Experience appears to indicate it needs a lot of formative pruning to develop any decent straight wood. From its origins, it is likely to be very tolerant of coastal conditions, and wind-speed, and can reputedly grow at up to 2.5 m. a year.


References:

Calflora. Pinus muricata. http://www.calflora.org/cgi-bin/species_query.cgi?where-calrecnum=6520. Accessed 25.10.2014.

The Gymnosperm database. Pinus muricata. http://www.conifers.org/pi/Pinus_muricata.php. Accessed 26.10.2014.