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.

Taxonomy

The species epithet torreyana is named for John Torrey, an American botanist, after whom the coniferous genus Torreya is also named.

Description

Pinus torreyana is a broad, open-crowned pine tree growing to tall in the wild, with long leaves ('needles') in groups of five. The cones are stout and heavy, typically long and broad, and contain large, hard-shelled, but edible, pine nuts. Like all pines, it has strobili, structures that function as a flower but look like a small cone, which for the Torrey pine look like a yellow bud in a male strobilus and like a small red cone in a female.

Torrey pines are sometimes afflicted with witch's broom (or "gorilla's nest"), an unusually dense cluster of needles that looks somewhat like a bird's nest, caused by disease or other causes.

There are two subspecies or varieties. These are said to be distinguished by the following characteristics, as well as possibly differing in the terpenoid (beta-phellandrene, limonene, cineole, etc.) profile.

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|120px|| Pinus torreyana var. torreyana ||There is much space between the branches. The leaf color is said to be generally gray-yellow-green. The cones are generally smaller than in width. The sharp tips at the end of the scales are generally less than in length. The seed is generally less than wide, and light to dark brown in color. Considered a Critically Imperiled Subspecies by NatureServe. || coast at Del Mar in San Diego County

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|120px||Pinus torreyana var. insularis ||The branches are crowded together. The leaf color is gray-blue-green. The cones are generally larger than in width. The sharp tips at the end of the scales are generally larger than in length. The seed is larger than 11mm wide, medium brown to more-or-less black. Considered a Critically Imperiled Subspecies by NatureServe. ||Santa Rosa Island

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Threats

On May 15, 2026, a fire started on Santa Rosa Island. There is concern that it might reach the grove where the pines grow.

Distribution

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 can be seen behind homes on the bayward side of the 900 block of Bayview Avenue. <!-- P. torreyana var. insularis . accessed September 9, 2010 --> 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.

Ecology

The native habitat of Pinus torreyana is coastal sage scrub, a plant community, growing slowly in dry, sandy soil. The root system is extensive. A tiny seedling may quickly send a taproot down seeking moisture and nutrients. A mature tree may have roots extending . Exposed trees battered by coastal winds are often twisted into beautiful sculptural shapes resembling large bonsai, and rarely exceed tall.

The seeds are eaten by birds and rodents. Like most pine tree species, the seeds have a wing attached to them, but in this species it is papery, breaks off easily, and is entirely non-functional, so this tree is entirely reliant upon animals to disperse its seeds. The scrub jay (Aphelocoma californica) is the most important species when it comes to dispersal of the seeds (on the mainland). Scrub jays and perhaps also squirrels are thought to be spreading the species into adjacent parklands from gardens around San Diego.

The caterpillars of the moth Gloveria arizonensis have been confirmed to feed on this tree in the wild.

Uses

Food

The pine nuts were once eaten by the Kumeyaay tribe of Native American people.

Cultivation

Although considered endangered in the wild, Torrey pine is often planted as an ornamental tree around San Diego, coastal and inland southern California, and even the Central Valley. Shipley Nature Center states it can grow to in height in cultivation. It is sold by at least ten different plant nurseries in California as of 2020.

Culture

In San Diego County it is considered a local icon, where it lends its name to Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve, Torrey Pines State Beach, Torrey Pines Golf Course, Torrey Pines High School, and Torrey Pines Gliderport, as well as numerous local roads, parks, and businesses (e.g., Torrey Pines Bank, Torrey Pines Property Management Company, Torrey Pines Landscape Company, and Torrey Pines Law Group.)

Conservation

There is some disagreement about the total population of Pinus torreyana. In general, only the populations in Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve and on Santa Rosa Island are deemed to count as the wild population, not the trees planted around San Diego and wider California. In the 1970s it was estimated that the population in the TPSR and on Santa Rosa Island was about 9,000 individuals, but many of these trees have since died due to forest fires, drought and a series of infestations of a bark beetle, as well as being stressed by air pollution. There were only a hundred trees surviving in the early 20th century. As of 2016 it is thought by the California Native Plant Society that the population of this species is some 3,000 individuals.

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File:Torrey Pine Cones.jpg|Torrey pine: female pine cones

File:Torrey Pine Grove.jpg|A wild Torrey pine grove, Santa Rosa Island, California

File:111101 LPL both strobili end AUT 025.jpg|Strobili on a Torrey pine

File:Torrey Pine Bark Mature.jpg|Torrey pine mature bark and nameplate in Mildred E. Mathias Botanical Garden, Los Angeles, California

</gallery>

References

  • USDA PLANTS entry
  • USDA Plants Profile: Pinus torreyana
  • Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve
  • Calscape, California Native Plant Society: Torrey Pine (Pinus torreyana)
  • Jepson Manual Treatment: Pinus torreyana
  • Pinus torreyana Photo gallery