Providing quality education through hands-on experience with nature

Home | Plant Communities | Closed Cone Pine Forest

Forests can be divided into two types: hardwood and softwood. Hardwood forests are flower-bearing and softwood forests are coniferous (cone-bearing). Trees that live in the Closed Cone Pine Forest are softwood trees. Plant fossils indicate that closed-cone forests were once widespread but are now remnants on their way to extinction. The average rainfall for this community is 20" - 60" annually. Additionally this Central California coastal community receives moisture from fog. The growing season is 9 - 12 months, annually.

---

Bishop Pine

Pinus muricata; Pine Family

• at the ENC, the Bishop pine is conical, but on windswept cliffs it is asymmetrical
• evergreen; grows to 40 - 80 feet tall; trunk 1 - 3 feet in diameter
• bark is thick and furrowed with dark purplish-brown scales
• needles 4" - 6" long; 2 per bundle in crowded clusters
• male conelets are whorled, about 1/2" long
• female conelets have no stalk, are ovoid, whorled and erect
• mature cones 2" - 3.5" long, yellow-brown, asymmetrical and clustered in
  circles of 3 to 5
• on low coastal terraces, helps to stabilize sand dunes (its roots bind soil more effectively than coastal sage scrub and annual grass species)

Columbine

Aquilegia formosa; Buttercup Family

• perennial, erect herb, with a leafy branched stem
• leaves are basal, compound, lobed
• showy, solitary flower hangs at the end of the stem; blooms May - August
• fruits August - September
• flowers reported to be very sweet and safe, but only if consumed in small quantities; Native Americans reportedly used them as a condiment
• seeds and roots are highly poisonous; may be fatal
• Native Americans used very small amounts of Aquilegia root as an effective treatment for ulcers, but medical use of this plant is best avoided due to its high toxicity

Monterey Cypress

Callitropsis macocarpa; Cypress Family

• evergreen; height depends greatly on growing conditions—mature tree can be 60 - 80 feet tall
• otherwise symmetrical crown often becomes irregular and flat-topped from exposure to high winds
• gray, rough, fibrous bark
• branches horizontal with rope-like branchlets
• dark green leaves are blunt and opposite in 4 rows
• cones are brown, 1.5"long

Monterey Pine

Pinus radiata; Pine Family

• evergreen tree; grows to 40 - 100 feet tall with a trunk 1 - 3 feet in diameter
• dark brown to black bark
• shiny green needles, 3 to a bundle, 4"- 6"long
• cones tan or cinnamon, ovoid, 3"- 5"long, unsymmetrical, grouped in rings of 3 to 5
• resin used by Native Americans as a dressing to draw out splinters or boils
• resin used for waterproofing baskets