Ghost Pine
Pinus sabiniana
A sparse, open-crowned foothill pine of interior California, with drooping gray-green needles that cast famously thin shade and huge, heavy cones armed with hooked scales. Drought-adapted and fast-growing on hot, dry slopes where few other conifers persist. The large seeds were a staple food for California Indigenous peoples.
- Family
- Pinaceae
- Type
- tree
- Lifespan
- perennial
- Height
- 80–80 ft
- Spacing
- 30–50 ft apart
- Light
- sun
- Soil moisture
- dry, moist
- Soil pH
- acidic, neutral, alkaline
- Bloom
- March, April
- Bloom colors
- yellow
- Wildlife value
- songbirds, mammals
- Caterpillar hosts
- ~201 butterfly & moth species
- Landscape uses
- specimen, naturalizing
- Native states
- CA, OR
Related native plants
More Pinus species
- Eastern White Pine (Pinus strobus)
- Ponderosa Pine (Pinus ponderosa)
- Pitch Pine (Pinus rigida)
- Lodgepole Pine (Pinus contorta)
- Longleaf Pine (Pinus palustris)
- Loblolly Pine (Pinus taeda)