Plants of South Eastern New South Wales

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Pinus radiata

Common name

Radiata Pine, Monterey Pine

Family

Pinaceae

Where found

Forest, urban bushland, woodland, grassy areas, roadsides, and disturbed sites. Usually near Pinus radiata plantations. Widespread.

Notes

Introduced tree to 35 m tall. Minute prickles at the tips of the woody scales of the female cones. Bark grey to dark brown, often deeply ridged. Leaves aromatic when rubbed, 8–15 cm long, needle-like, glossy, green, margins finely toothed. Leaves in bundles of threes and enclosed within a sheath at their base. Male and female cones on the same plant. Male cones 10-15 mm long, cylindrical, clustered at the tips of the branches. Mature female cones 70-170 mm long, 60-80 mm wide,  made up of many glossy greyish brown woody scales, each thickened at the top. Mature female cones single or in clusters, lopsided, borne on short curved stalks, pointing down. Seeds blackish, the single papery wing to 25 mm long.

Readily distinguished by the swollen scales towards the base of the long side of the cone.

Pest plant ACT.

PlantNET description:  http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Pinus~radiata (accessed 1 February, 2021)