Tree of the day: Pinus radiata, Monterey pine, Whiteknights Quad
Pinus radiata is a species of evergreen needleleaf coniferous plants (in the Pinaceae or Pine family), native to the central coast of California and parts of Mexico.
Pinus radiata is a species of evergreen needleleaf coniferous plants (in the Pinaceae or Pine family), native to the central coast of California and parts of Mexico. It has long, slender needles in bundles of three and medium-sized cones, which remain closed until opened by the heat of a forest fire; the seeds are then discharged to regenerate on the burned forest floor. In its native range it is critically endangered by pitch pine canker.
Pinus radiata has a tall, straight trunk with very rugged bark, upward-pointing branches and a rounded but irregular crown. It grows extremely rapidly (up to 2 metres per year), commonly to 30 metres in its native habitat and twice as high in cultivation. Consequently it is grown around the world, particularly in New Zealand and Australia, where it is a major source of timber for construction, paper production, and wood products such as MDF.
about this species
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This photo is one of 9361 photos of 876 trees in 334 species
This website is a virtual arboretum, created for interest, education and beauty. It exhibits some of the thousands of trees, of both native and exotic species, that grow in Whiteknights Park, the main campus of the University of Reading. Many of them have been planted since the university arrived in 1947, but some have been here since the 19th century or earlier, when Whiteknights was the gardens and parkland of large houses. More than a hundred of the trees are listed in The Tree Register, nine as British Isles champions (the largest or tallest of their species).
Please send any comments about this website to whiteknights-trees@reading.ac.uk.
The previous version of this website is here.
Acknowledgements
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank: Rupert Taylor, Owen Johnson, Alastair Culham, Jonathan Mitchley, Marcus Wheeler, Benoît Vannière, Miguel Teixeira and Claire Hawkins for tree identifications; Brian Hunt and Trevor Smith for testing routes and contributing text; Dylan Parkes, Martin Watts, Emilija Rudzinskaite, Brian and Trevor for collaboration on the centenary project; Dan Hodson for useful code examples; Studio Lift for website style; Brian, Trevor and Nathanaël van Twillert for comments and suggestions on website user experience; Benoît, Marcus, Steve George, Brian, Trevor, the Friends of the University of Reading, and other friends for their encouragement during the development of the website; the University and its grounds staff for maintaining Whiteknights Park.