The Bishop Pine, Pinus muricata, is a pine with a very restricted range: mostly in California, including several offshore Channel Islands, and a few locations in Baja California, Mexico. It is always on or near the coast.
In San Luis Obispo County it is found alone or in stands scattered on the coastal mountains and hills from Morro Bay to Shell Beach. A few stands of the tree are seen on the hills above the Sycamore Canyon Resort in Avila Beach. Within the City of San Luis Obispo, the Terrace Hill Open Space has several scattered specimens. Bishop Pine seems to prefer already disturbed, unvegetated areas where it probably faces less competition from oaks and shrubs.
The common name Bishop Pine resulted from the tree having been first identified near the Mission of San Luis Obispo in San Luis Obispo, CA. This tree has a large number of common names and other prior scientific names, due primarily to numerous variant forms. Other English names that have occasionally been used are: Prickle Cone Pine, Obispo Pine, Santa Cruz Pine and Dwarf Marine Pine.
Read more about Bishop Pine: Description, Forms, Ecology, Uses
Famous quotes containing the words bishop and/or pine:
“The art of losing isn’t hard to master;
so many things seem filled with the intent
to be lost that their loss is no disaster.”
—Elizabeth Bishop (1911–1979)
“Strange that so few ever come to the woods to see how the pine lives and grows and spires, lifting its evergreen arms to the light,—to see its perfect success; but most are content to behold it in the shape of many broad boards brought to market, and deem that its true success! But the pine is no more lumber than man is, and to be made into boards and houses is no more its true and highest use than the truest use of a man is to be cut down and made into manure.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)