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Pinus muricata
Also called Swamp Pine, Prickle Cone Pine, Santa Cruz Island Pine
Bishop pine is a hardy, drought-tolerant coastal conifer native to California and Baja California, often twisted and stunted near the sea. It thrives in full sun, sandy or rocky, well-drained ground and tolerates fog and wind.
Pinus muricata, the bishop pine, is a species of conifer in the family Pinaceae, a pine with a very restricted range: mostly in California, including several offshore Channel Islands, and a few locations in Baja California, Mexico. Stands of Bishop Pine are also found in Point Reyes National Seashore, in Marin County north of San Francisco, always on the west side of the San Andreas Fault that runs through the park. It is always on or near the coast.
In San Luis Obispo County it is found alone or in stands scattered on the coastal mountains and hills from Morro Bay to Shell Beach. A few stands of the tree are seen on the hills above the Sycamore Canyon Resort in Avila Beach. Bishop pine seems to prefer already disturbed, unvegetated areas where it probably faces less competition from oaks and shrubs.
Pinus muricata benefits from the cool and moist air created by fog. Shortening fog range has caused the range of P. muricata proliferation to gradually move northward from its original range in Southern California over thousands of years.
Pinus muricata has been used in plantations with resultant growth rates higher than in the wild, but with adverse impacts to biodiversity.
Rocky Mountains Bristlecone Pine · Arizona Pine · Chinese White Pine · Mexican White Pine · Jack pine · Turkish Pine · Lacebark Pine · Canary Islands Pine · Caribbean pine · Swiss Pine · Mexican Pinyon · Sand Pine
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Pinus muricata by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
