Pinus muricata
Common name
Bishop pine
Family
Pinaceae
Flora category
Vascular – Exotic
Structural class
Gymnosperm Trees & Shrubs
NVS code
The National Vegetation Survey (NVS) Databank is a physical archive and electronic databank containing records of over 94,000 vegetation survey plots - including data from over 19,000 permanent plots. NVS maintains a standard set of species code abbreviations that correspond to standard scientific plant names from the Ngä Tipu o Aotearoa - New Zealand Plants database.
PINMUR
Conservation status
Not assessed
Habitat
Terrestrial.
Features
Medium sized tree up to 25 m high with straight trunk, and spreading or slightly drooping branches. The very thick purplish brown bark is deeply fissured into scaly plates. Needles are held in pairs, and are up to 15 cm long arranged in untidy whorls. Two strains in NZ can be identified from needle colour: the ”blue” strain, with grey-green to blue-green needles: the ”green” strain with yellow-green needles. Male and female cones arise in separate clusters on young shoots. The mature female cones are up to 8 cm long, covered in many stout, sharp spines, and are arranged in whorls around the branches.
Similar taxa
Long needles in pairs and the persistent, large, very prickly cones of Pinus muricata are distinctive.
Flower colours
No flowers
Year naturalised
1940
Origin
California, N. America
Etymology
muricata: Furnished with numerous short hard excrescences
Reason For Introduction
Forestry
Life Cycle Comments
Perennial
Reproduction
Seed.
Dispersal
Wind.
Tolerances
Withstands salt-laden winds (Salmon 2000)