Alternate name: Digger Pine

Family: Pinaceae, Pine view all from this family

Description Tree with crooked, forking trunk and branches; open, very thin, irregular, broad, or rounded crown; and very large, heavy cones.
Height: 40-70' (12-21 m), sometimes much larger.
Diameter: 2-4' (0.6-1.2 m).
Needles: evergreen; 3 in bundle; 8-12" (20-30 cm) long. Slender and drooping; dull gray-green, with many white lines.
Bark: dark gray, thick, deeply and irregularly furrowed into scaly ridges, becoming slightly shaggy; light gray, smooth on branches.
Cones: mostly 6-10" (15-25 cm) long; egg-shaped and slightly 1-sided, brown, bent down on long stalks; opening late and remaining on tree many years; cone-scales very long, thick, sharply keeled and 4-sided, narrowed into very large, stout, straight or slightly curved spine. Very large, elliptical, thick-walled, edible seeds with detachable wing.

Habitat Dry slopes and ridges in foothills and low mountains; with oaks and other conifers.

Range N. to S. California through the Coast Ranges and the Sierra Nevada; mostly at 1000-3000' (305-914 m); rarely down to 100' (30 m) and up to 6000' (1829 m).

Discussion The soft, lightweight wood of this common and widespread pine is not durable; the crooked, forking trunks also make the wood impractical to use except as fuel. The former common name refers to the "Digger" Indians (a pioneer term grouping all California Indian tribes together, based on their practice of digging for foods such as bulbs and roots).