Top: This Coulter Pine sits on the east bank of the Guadalupe River, between the Coleman Rd. overpass and the dam, two-hundred yards north of Almaden Lake.
Second: Its bark
Third: I couldn't reach this female cone, but it's even larger than the one below pictured with my hand.
Fourth: I'm not kidding: these mature female cones are GIGANTIC. According to the National Audubon Society Field Guide to Trees, the Coulter Pine "...has the heaviest cone of all pines in the world, often weighing 4-5 pounds."
Bottom: Pollen-bearing male cones. (Yes, there are boy and girl cones. Who knew?)
Pine trees are conifers (cone-bearing) that inhabit mainly the northern hemisphere, especially the region known as the Boreal Forest (Alaska, Canada, Russia, Norway, etc). Pines do not loose their needles seasonally, so they are able to photosynthesize even when light levels are low and temperatures cool. And the needle's dark green color contains a lot of chlorophyl, which increases sunlight absorption needed for photosynthesis. The needle shape has a small surface area. It evolved that way to resist cold and to minimize transpiration (water evaporation). Conifers dominate the Boreal region because this type of leaf--a needle is a leaf type--grows better than the leaves of deciduous (leaf-shedding) trees in that cold climate.
Coulter Pines grow mainly in the coastal regions of western Alaska and Canada, and of Southern California and Baja Mexico. In California they range as far north as San Francisco. Coulter Pine needles come three in a bundle; I measured my specimens at just under nine inches long.
[Photo: Coulter Pine, aka "Bigcone Pine" or "Pitch Pine" (Pinus Coulteri) Click photo to enlarge]
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