Pinus muricata

Bishop pine

Family: Pinaceae · Type: shrub · Native

Bishop pine is a California native shrub found in northern coastal, central coastal, northern San Francisco Bay, and northern Channel Islands bioregions in redwood forest, northern coastal conifer forest, closed-cone pine forest, and chaparral at elevations below 300 meters. With a distinctive trunk less than 51 meters tall and less than 1.2 meters wide, this pine has brown bark with rough ridges and a variable mature crown featuring large branches. Its needles grow in pairs, generally 5 to 15 centimeters long, appearing green and sometimes slightly twisted, with persistent needle sheaths. The seed cones are particularly notable, measuring 5 to 9.7 centimeters long, ovoid and brown, often whorled and persistent for many years, with either spreading symmetric cones featuring small scale tip knobs or reflexed asymmetric cones with larger angled scale tip knobs. Its branches and unusual cone structure make this pine a distinctive component of California's coastal and forest ecosystems.

Habitat: Redwood forest, northern coastal conifer forest, closed-cone-pine forest, chaparral

Elevation: < 300 m

Bioregions: NCo, CCo, n SnFrB, n ChI

California counties: Mendocino, Monterey, Marin, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Santa Cruz, Sonoma, San Bernardino, Humboldt, San Francisco, Alameda, Contra Costa, El Dorado, Ventura, Del Norte

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.