The
Monterey Pine,
Pinus radiata, family
PinaceaePinaceae are trees or shrubs, including many of the well-known conifers of commercial importance such as cedars, firs, hemlocks, larches, pines and spruces. The family is included in the order Pinales, formerly known as Coniferales. Pinaceae are supported as monophyletic by its protein-type sieve...
, also known as the
Insignis Pine or
Radiata Pine is a
speciesIn biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...
of
pinePines are trees in the genus Pinus ,in the family Pinaceae. They make up the monotypic subfamily Pinoideae. There are about 115 species of pine, although different authorities accept between 105 and 125 species.-Etymology:...
native to the
Central Coast of CaliforniaThe Central Coast is an area of California, United States, roughly spanning the area between the Monterey Bay and Point Conception. It extends through Santa Cruz County, San Benito County, Monterey County, San Luis Obispo County, and Santa Barbara County...
.
It is the most widely
plantedA plantation is a long artificially established forest, farm or estate, where crops are grown for sale, often in distant markets rather than for local on-site consumption...
pine in the world, valued for rapid growth and desirable
lumberLumber or timber is wood in any of its stages from felling through readiness for use as structural material for construction, or wood pulp for paper production....
and
pulpPulp is a lignocellulosic fibrous material prepared by chemically or mechanically separating cellulose fibres from wood, fibre crops or waste paper. Wood pulp is the most common raw material in papermaking.-History:...
qualities.
Although
Pinus radiata is extensively cultivated as a plantation timber in many temperate parts of the world, it faces serious threats in its natural range.
Distribution
Pinus radiata is a
speciesIn biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...
of
pinePines are trees in the genus Pinus ,in the family Pinaceae. They make up the monotypic subfamily Pinoideae. There are about 115 species of pine, although different authorities accept between 105 and 125 species.-Etymology:...
native to
Central Coast of CaliforniaThe Central Coast is an area of California, United States, roughly spanning the area between the Monterey Bay and Point Conception. It extends through Santa Cruz County, San Benito County, Monterey County, San Luis Obispo County, and Santa Barbara County...
, in three very limited areas located in
Santa CruzSanta Cruz County is a county located on the Pacific coast of the U.S. state of California, on the California Central Coast. The county forms the northern coast of the Monterey Bay. . As of the 2010 U.S. Census, its population was 262,382. The county seat is Santa Cruz...
,
Monterey PeninsulaThe Monterey Peninsula is located on the central California coast and comprises the cities of Monterey, Carmel, and Pacific Grove, and unincorporated areas of Monterey County including the resort and community of Pebble Beach.-Monterey:...
(
MontereyMonterey County is a county located on the Pacific coast of the U.S. state of California, its northwestern section forming the southern half of Monterey Bay. The northern half of the bay is in Santa Cruz County. As of 2010, the population was 415,057. The county seat and largest city is Salinas...
), and
San Luis Obispo CountiesSan Luis Obispo County is a county located along the Pacific Ocean in the Central Coast of the U.S. state of California, between Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area. As of the 2010 census its population was 269,637, up from 246,681 at the 2000 census...
. It is also found as the variety
Pinus radiata var.
binata or
Guadalupe Pine on
Guadalupe IslandGuadalupe Island, or Isla Guadalupe is a volcanic island located 241 kilometers off the west coast of Mexico's Baja California peninsula and some 400 kilometers southwest of the city of Ensenada in Baja California state, in the Pacific Ocean...
, and a possibly separable
P. radiata var./
subspeciesSubspecies in biological classification, is either a taxonomic rank subordinate to species, ora taxonomic unit in that rank . A subspecies cannot be recognized in isolation: a species will either be recognized as having no subspecies at all or two or more, never just one...
—ssp.
cedrosensis on
Cedros IslandCedros Island is a Mexican island in the Pacific Ocean....
, both in the
Pacific OceanThe Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
off the west coast of the northern
Baja California PeninsulaThe Baja California peninsula , is a peninsula in northwestern Mexico. Its land mass separates the Pacific Ocean from the Gulf of California. The Peninsula extends from Mexicali, Baja California in the north to Cabo San Lucas, Baja California Sur in the south.The total area of the Baja California...
in
MexicoThe United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
.
In
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
,
New ZealandNew Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, and
SpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
it is the leading introduced tree and in
ArgentinaArgentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
,
ChileChile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
,
UruguayUruguay ,officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay,sometimes the Eastern Republic of Uruguay; ) is a country in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to some 3.5 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area...
,
KenyaKenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
, and
South AfricaThe Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
it is a major plantation species.
Description
Pinus radiata grows to between 15 metre in height in the wild, but up to 60 m (196.9 ft) in cultivation in optimum conditions, with upward pointing branches and a rounded top. The
leavesA leaf is an organ of a vascular plant, as defined in botanical terms, and in particular in plant morphology. Foliage is a mass noun that refers to leaves as a feature of plants....
('needles') are bright green, in clusters of three (two in var.
binata), slender, 8 centimetre long and with a blunt tip. The
conesA cone is an organ on plants in the division Pinophyta that contains the reproductive structures. The familiar woody cone is the female cone, which produces seeds. The male cones, which produce pollen, are usually herbaceous and much less conspicuous even at full maturity...
are 7–17 cm (2.8–6.7 in) long, brown, ovoid (egg-shaped), and usually set asymmetrically on a branch, attached at an oblique angle. The
barkBark is the outermost layers of stems and roots of woody plants. Plants with bark include trees, woody vines and shrubs. Bark refers to all the tissues outside of the vascular cambium and is a nontechnical term. It overlays the wood and consists of the inner bark and the outer bark. The inner...
is fissured and dark grey to brown.
It is closely related to
Bishop PineThe Bishop Pine, Pinus muricata, is a pine with a very restricted range: mostly in the U.S. state of California, including several offshore Channel Islands, and a few locations in Baja California, Mexico...
and
Knobcone PineThe Knobcone Pine, Pinus attenuata, is a tree that grows in mild climates on poor soils. It ranges from the mountains of southern Oregon to Baja California with the greatest concentration in northern California and the Oregon-California border....
, hybridizing readily with both species; it is distinguished from the former by needles in threes (not pairs), and from both by the cones not having a sharp spine on the scales.
The modern tree is vastly different from the native tree of Monterey. In plantations the tree is commonly planted at 3m x 3m spacing on a wide variety of landscapes from flat to moderatly steep hills.Because of selective breeding and more recently the extensive use of Growth Factor seedlings, forests planted since the 1990s are of superior wood with very straight tall trunks without the problem of twin leaders. The trees are pruned in 3 lifts so that the lower 2/3 of a mature tree is branch- ( and hence knot-) free.
In its natural state, the wood is poor quality: twisted, knotty and full of sap/resin only really suitable for fire wood, but the modern product is very different.
Ecology
Monterey Pine is a species adapted to cope with stand-killing fire disturbance. Its cones are serotinous, i.e. they remain closed until opened by the heat of a forest fire; the abundant seeds are then discharged to regenerate on the burned forest floor. The cones may also burst open in hot weather.
In its native range, Monterey Pine is associated with a characteristic flora and fauna. It is the co-dominant canopy tree together with
Cupressus macrocarpaCupressus macrocarpa, commonly known as Monterey Cypress or Macrocarpa, is a species of cypress that is endemic to the Central Coast of California. In the wild, the species is confined to two small populations, near Monterey and Carmel, California. These two small populations represent what was...
which naturally occurs only in coastal Monterey County. Furthermore, one of the pine forests in
Monterey, CaliforniaThe City of Monterey in Monterey County is located on Monterey Bay along the Pacific coast in Central California. Monterey lies at an elevation of 26 feet above sea level. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 27,810. Monterey is of historical importance because it was the capital of...
, was the discovery site for
Hickman's potentillaPotentilla hickmanii is an endangered perennial herb of the rose family. This rare plant species is found in a narrowly restricted range in two locations in coastal northern California, in Monterey County, and in very small colonies in San Mateo County...
, an endangered species.
Piperia yadoniiPiperia yadonii, also known as Yadon's Piperia or Yadon's rein orchid, is an endangered orchid endemic to a narrow range of coastal habitat in northern Monterey County, California...
, a rare species of orchid is endemic to the same pine forest adjacent to
Pebble BeachPebble Beach is an unincorporated community in Monterey County, California. It lies at an elevation of 3 feet . Pebble Beach is a small coastal resort destination, home to the famous golf course, Pebble Beach Golf Links....
. In its native range, Monterey Pine is a principal host for the dwarf
mistletoeMistletoe is the common name for obligate hemi-parasitic plants in several families in the order Santalales. The plants in question grow attached to and within the branches of a tree or shrub.-Mistletoe in the genus Viscum:...
ArceuthobiumThe genus Arceuthobium, commonly called Dwarf Mistletoes, is a genus of 42 species of parasitic plants that parasitize members of Pinaceae and Cupressaceae in North America, Central America, Asia and Africa. Of the 42 species, 39 and 21 are endemic to North America and the United States, respectively...
littorum.
A remnant Monterey Pine stand in
Pacific GrovePacific Grove is a coastal city in Monterey County, California, USA, with a population of 15,041 as of the 2010 census, down from 15,522 as of the 2000 census...
is a prime wintering habitat of the
Monarch butterflyThe Monarch butterfly is a milkweed butterfly , in the family Nymphalidae. It is perhaps the best known of all North American butterflies. Since the 19th century, it has been found in New Zealand, and in Australia since 1871 where it is called the Wanderer...
.
California
The three remaining wild stands of var.
radiata (Monterey Pine proper) are infected and under threat of
extirpationLocal extinction, also known as extirpation, is the condition of a species which ceases to exist in the chosen geographic area of study, though it still exists elsewhere...
from Pine Pitch
CankerCanker and anthracnose are general terms for a large number of different plant diseases, characterised by broadly similar symptoms including the appearance of small areas of dead tissue, which grow slowly, often over a period of years. Some are of only minor consequence, but others are ultimately...
caused by
Fusarium circinatumFusarium circinatum is a fungal plant pathogen that causes the serious disease pitch canker on pine trees. Like other Fusarium species in the phylum Ascomycota, it is the asexual reproductive state of the fungus and has a teleomorph, Gibberella circinata.-Distribution:This fungus is believed to...
, a fungal disease native to the southeast United States and found (in 1986) to have been introduced to California. When trees begin to die of the disease, they attract bark beetles which provide a pathway for infection of other trees. In some stands, 80–90% of trees are infected. If the disease is introduced in agroforestry areas dependent upon Monterey Pine, such as New Zealand, it could have catastrophic effects in those countries as well.
Baja California
On Guadalupe Island, var.
binata is
critically endangeredVersion 2010.3 of the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species identified 3744 Critically Endangered species, subspecies and varieties, stocks and subpopulations.Critically Endangered by kingdom:*1993 Animalia*2 Fungi*1745 Plantae*4 Protista-References:...
. Most of the population was destroyed as tens of thousands of
feralA feral organism is one that has changed from being domesticated to being wild or untamed. In the case of plants it is a movement from cultivated to uncultivated or controlled to volunteer. The introduction of feral animals or plants to their non-native regions, like any introduced species, may...
goatThe domestic goat is a subspecies of goat domesticated from the wild goat of southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the Bovidae family and is closely related to the sheep as both are in the goat-antelope subfamily Caprinae. There are over three hundred distinct breeds of...
s ate each and every seedling that germinated from the mid-19th century until just a few years ago. The older trees gradually died off until by 2001–2002 the population stood at only one hundred. With a program to remove the goats essentially complete by 2005, hundreds of young Guadalupe Pines have started to grow up in habitat fenced after 2001, the first significant new growth in about 150 years. Possible accidental introduction of Pine Pitch Canker is considered the biggest threat at present to the survival of the Guadalupe Island pine population.
Australia
Australia has large
P. radiata plantations (though they are less than 1% of the total forested area); so much so that many Australians are concerned by the resulting loss of native wildlife habitat. A few native animals, however, thrive on them, notably the
Yellow-tailed Black CockatooThe Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo is a large cockatoo native to the south-east of Australia measuring 55–65 cm in length. It has a short crest on the top of its head. Its plumage is mostly brownish black and it has prominent yellow cheek patches and a yellow tail band...
which, although deprived of much of its natural diet by massive habitat alteration through clearing for agriculture, feeds on
P. radiata seeds. They are also the most common tree used for Christmas trees in Australia.
Chile
P. radiata has also been introduced to the
Valdivian temperate rain forestsThe Valdivian temperate rain forests are a temperate broadleaf and mixed-forest ecoregion located on the west coast of southern South America, lying mostly in Chile and extending into a small part of Argentina. It is part of the Neotropic ecozone. The forests are named after the city of Valdivia...
, where vast plantations have been planted for timber, again displacing the native forests.
New Zealand
The Monterey Pine (always called
Pinus radiata in New Zealand) was first introduced into New Zealand in 1859 and today 89% of the country's plantation forests are of this species. This includes the
Kaingaroa ForestKaingaroa Forest is the largest forest in the North Island of New Zealand, and the largest plantation in the southern hemisphere.The forest covers 2900 km² in the inland East Cape and Bay of Plenty regions, and stretches south past the east coast of Lake Taupo...
on the central plateau of the North Island which is the largest planted forest in the world. Mass plantings became common from 1900 in the Rotorua area where prison labour was used. In some areas it is considered an
invasive species"Invasive species", or invasive exotics, is a nomenclature term and categorization phrase used for flora and fauna, and for specific restoration-preservation processes in native habitats, with several definitions....
(termed a
wilding coniferWilding conifers, also known as wilding pines, are invasive tree species in the high country of New Zealand. Millions of dollars is spent on controlling their spread....
) where it has escaped from plantations. It is the most extensively used wood in New Zealand.
United States
The Monterey Pine is widely used in private gardens and public landscapes in temperate California, and similar climates around the world. It is a fast-growing
treeA tree is a perennial woody plant. It is most often defined as a woody plant that has many secondary branches supported clear of the ground on a single main stem or trunk with clear apical dominance. A minimum height specification at maturity is cited by some authors, varying from 3 m to...
, adaptable to a broad range of soil types and climates, though does not tolerate temperatures below about -15 C. Its fast growth makes it ideal for landscapes and forestry; in a good situation,
P. radiata can reach its full height in 40 years or so.
Uses
The majority is treated with chemical salts by either dipping or pressure treatment. It is used in house construction, fencing, retaining walls, for concrete formers and to a limited extent in boat building either as weatherboards, posts, beams or plywood. For boat building, untreated ply is sometimes used but must be encased in epoxy resin to exclude moisture.In New Zealand in 1958 the boat designer Des Townsend started building 186 11feet, cold moulded Zepher class yachts, using Pinus Radiata.In 2011 these hand built boats fetch very high prices and are generally in excellent condition.
The wood is normally kiln dried to 12% moisture in 6m long, clear lengths. It is available treated with a range of chemical salts, or untreated. Chemical salt treatment is well proven and such timber is frequently used in the ground as posts and poles as part of structures such as retaining walls and pole houses. The name applied to this treatment is tanalized wood. H1 and H2 treatment is suited to indoor use. H3 is the standard house timber and this grade is used for fence palings. H4 and H5 are the standard for inground use.
Lower grade timber is converted to pulp to make newsprint. Higher grade timber is used in house construction. Radiata is used chipped to make make particle board sheets, commonly used in flooring. Other sheet products are hardboard, softboard and ply. Plywood is peeled from logs in long sheets. Most ply is structural and available in 7-22mm sizes. A small amount of higher grade ply is used to produce thinner (4 and 7mm) ply suitable for furniture, cabinet work and boat building. This is knot and crack free and glued with resorcinal waterproof glue. Since the 1990s finger jointed joinery grade wood has become available in up to 6m lengths in a wide range of profiles.
Radiata holds screws and nails well and takes paint without difficulty. Modern kiln dried timber is easy to work. Young timber (under 18 years) is lighter and weaker. It is about 1/3 heavier than dried western Red cedar and about the same weight as New Zealand and Fijian Kauri. It is brittle when bent, so does not have the same load bearing features as Oregon pine (Douglas fir,
Pseudotsuga).
Further reading
|year=1998|id=42408|title=Pinus radiata|downloaded=11 May 2006}}
- León de la Luz, José Luis; Rebman, Jon P. & Oberbauer, Thomas (2003). On the urgency of conservation on Guadalupe Island, Mexico: is it a lost paradise? Biodiversity and Conservation 12(5): 1073–1082. (HTML abstract)
External links