The Coulter pine or big-cone pine, Pinus coulteri, is a native of the coastal mountains of Southern California and northern Baja California (Mexico). Isolated groves are found as far north as the San Francisco Bay Area in Mt. Diablo State Park and Black Diamond Mines Regional Preserve. The species is named after Thomas Coulter, an Irish botanist and physician.

Pinus coulteri is a substantial coniferous evergreen tree in the genus Pinus. The size ranges from 10-24 m (30-80 ft) tall,[2] and a trunk diameter up to 1 m (3 ft). The trunk is vertical and branches horizontal to upcurved. The leaves are needle-like, in bundles of three, glaucous gray-green, 15-30 cm (6-12 in) long and stout, 2 mm (0.01 in) thick.

The outstanding characteristic of this tree is the large, spiny cones which are 20-40 cm (8-16 in) long, and weigh 2-5 kg (4-10 lbs) when fresh. Coulter pines produce the largest cones of any pine tree species (people are actually advised to wear hardhats when working in Coulter pine groves), although the slender cones of the sugar pine are longer. The large size of the cones has earned them the nickname “widowmakers” among locals.

This particular cone fell from a tree as I was hiking through a grove of trees in Forest Falls, CA. The impact when it hit the ground was so loud it sounded like a bomb going off. The impact also broke many of the spikes off the cone itself. Word has it that when loggers would fell the trees in the early part of the 1900s, many men lost their lives after being hit in the head by one of these cones, hence the nickname “Widow Maker.” No small wonder given the nasty-looking claw-like spikes these cones have.

EXIF Data

Camera Type: NIKON D3100
Lens: 18.0-55.0 mm f/3.5-5.6
Date Taken: 5/2/13
Aperture: f/5.6
Shutter Speed: 1/30
ISO: 400
Exposure Mode: Manual
Focal Length: 40.0 mm
White Balance: Auto
Metering Mode: Center Weight
Light Source (In Camera): N/A
Flash: N/A
Light Source (External): Natural light from window
Size: 168 KB
Location: 4361 Custis Avenue, Sacramento, California
Latitude: 38,32.7424N
Longitude: 121,29.8172W
Elevation: 7.70 m