Trees of McLaren Park: Italian Stone Pine, Pinus pinea
Our beloved McLaren Park is full of fascinating trees. I've set out to explore them, taking pictures while I'm walking with Georgia, talking about them with my friend and neighbor Kate, and paying attention when I see the species pop up in history and art. I'm starting this series today with the Italian Stone Pine. Why? Because it is one of the first trees I noticed in the McLaren Park that wasn't a ubiquitous cypress or eucalyptus.
Italian Stone Pine, Pinus pinea
Shape: The tree is cone shaped while young, umbrella shaped at middle age, and flat topped in old age. Seedlings are often sold as Christmas trees, but in McLaren Park, most of the trees I've encountered are largely middle-aged, planted in the late 1920s or 1930s. They can grow up to 80 feet tall; most of the trees that I've seen in our park are around 35 feet. However, there are old specimens in Rome that tower over the ruins of the ancient city. From paintings and photographs of older trees, I can see that the trees have the habit of losing their lower limbs as they age.
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| An Italian Stone Pine near the Olmstead entrance of McLaren Park. |
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| Sally V., "Umbrella Pine on Palatine Hill in Rome." 12 May 2004. |
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| A store-bought seedling, notice the the shorter, bluer needles and the more conical shape. Photo courtesy Kate Gougatas, 2025. |
Foliage: The paired needles are a true dark green without an olive or gray tinge, except when the trees are are very young, when the needles are singular and glaucous. The crowns of adult trees are dense with needles and can create concentrated shade. The needles are usually around 5" long.
Cone: The oval shaped cones take three years to mature, but it is rare to find a completely mature one in the park, because they are full of edible and very tasty seeds that the squirrels get to well before people can. But, when I'm lucky enough to find an intact mature cone, I'm delighted because they're so pretty. They have large scales, that when open, have frills like crimping on a pie. The paired seeds leave filagreed impressions on the inside of each scale. The cones usually about 4" or 6" long and when mature and open, nearly as wide. Immature cones look like very green pineapples.
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| This is how I most frequently find the cones, devastated by squirrels. |
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| This pair of pine nuts from a partially matured cone escaped the squirrels, at least for now. |
Bark: Young bark is rust colored. Small limbs retain ruddiness, but as the bark ages, it turns gray and thick. When the thick, older bark flakes off through growth, the red color appears in the cracks.
History: The Italian Stone Pine has been cultivated for at least 6000 years throughout the Mediterranean, largely for access to its nutritious nuts. Depictions of the trees appear over and over in art, from Sandro Botticelli's four panel illustrations of the weird story of Nastagio Degli Onesti to the Bristol School landscape watercolors of William James Müller to the funky colorful Post-Impressionism of Paul Signac.
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| Müller, William James. "Umbrella Pines in the Villa Borghese, Rome," 1839. Public Domain. |
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| Signac, Paul. "The Pine Tree at Saint Tropez," 1909. Public Domain. |
Where to find in the park: There are a few sturdy specimens near the Olmstead entrance to McLaren Park, down the hill from the tennis courts. Others shade the picnic tables at the upper reservoir. My favorite specimens are along the trail that skirts the hill behind the Jerry Garcia Ampitheater and below the dog play area.
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