The Torrey pine is a rare, critically endangered pine native to a few coastal sites in California, growing to 8 to 17 m in the wild, and is rarely grown outside its native region. Its key to growing is full sun and very good drainage in a dry, mild, coastal-style climate.
Family
Pinaceae (Pine family)
Grows as
Tree
Light
Full sun
Water
Water deeply but infrequently, letting the soil dry out between waterings, and avoid summer irrigation once established.
Soil
Sandy, well-drained soil.
Temperature
10–25 °C is comfortable; tolerates mild frost but young trees need protection below about -5 °C.
How easy
Moderate
Safety
Not known to be toxic
Edible
Yes, some parts
Native range
SW. California
Climate
subtropical
About
The Torrey pine (Pinus torreyana) is a rare pine species in California, United States. It is a critically endangered species growing only in coastal San Diego County, and on Santa Rosa Island, offshore from Santa Barbara in Santa Barbara County, and in Monterey County. The Torrey pine is endemic to the California coastal sage and chaparral ecoregion.
Where it grows
The extant population of Pinus torreyana is restricted to trees growing in a narrow strip along the Southern California coast in San Diego. There is also a population of the variety Pinus torreyana var. insularis in two groves on Santa Rosa Island, a California Channel Island off the coast of Santa Barbara, and in Pacific Grove on the foggy Monterey County coast, where a number of massive old specimens exist. The presence of Torrey pines along the semi-arid coast of San Diego and Santa Rosa Island (rainfall less than 15 inches per year) is probably a relict population of a much more extensive Ice Age distribution. Coastal fog during spring and summer along the San Diego and Santa Rosa Island coast provides just enough moisture to supplement the fairly low winter rainfall, allowing for survival of the species in the wild habitat zone.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Torrey pine 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.