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Monterey Pine (Pinus Radiata) is a species of pine native to coastal California in three very limited areas in Santa Cruz, Monterey, and San Luis Obispo Counties, as well as Guadalupe Island and Cedros Island off the west coast of Baja California, Mexico. It is also extensively cultivated in many other warm temperate parts of the world.
This species grows to between 15-30 m in height in the wild, but up to 60 m in cultivation in optimum conditions, with upward pointing branches and a rounded top. The leaves ('needles') are bright green, in clusters of three (two in var. binata), slender, 8-15 cm long and with a blunt tip. The cones are 7-17 cm long, brown, ovoid (egg-shaped), and usually set asymmetrically on a branch, attached at an oblique angle. The bark is fissured and dark grey to brown.
It is closely related to Bishop Pine and Knobcone Pine, 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.
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