Pinaceae (pine family) Pinus

Pinus thunbergii Japanese black pine

Japan
P. thunbergiana (syn.)
Pinus thunbergii at Mechanical Engineering on Lasuen Mall. Sairus Patel, 11 Dec 2018
Female cone (2.2 inches long) and needles (longest are 4.2 inches) of Pinus thunbergii at Mechanical Engineering on Lasuen Mall. Sairus Patel, 11 Dec 2018

A tall timber tree in Japan, but on campus usually dwarfed or quaintly shaped. It has two twisted, green needles to the bundle and the 3-inch cones are not prickly. Conspicuous silky white candles adorn the tree in winter.

See it at Mechanical Engineering (Building 500) at the southmost doorway on Lasuen Mall (location); also find a stooped survivor around the corner of the left side of the building. Just across Lasuen Mall, a trio is tucked away on the south side of Barnum Center among the stone pines. Two stand in the juniper bed at the northwest corner of Lathrop Library (location), and one at the northeast corner of the Faculty Club.

Past locations include the south end of Lathrop Library, where there were several, and the northeast corner of Dinkelspiel Auditorium in company with P. canariensis. The striking individual on Lomita Drive near the northeast corner of Herrin Labs (location) was removed in 2021 due to construction in the area.

In Palo Alto, see ramrod-straight specimens at 1215 Stanford Ave and at 301 Oxford Street. One at 1290 Cedar Street, near the corner of Hopkins Avenue, was removed in 2016.

· A simple key to campus pines

Name derivation: Pinus – Latin for pine; thunbergii – after Carl Thunberg (1743–1828), Dutch physician and botanist who introduced many Japanese plants to Europe.

About this Entry: The main text of this entry is from the book Trees of Stanford and Environs, by Ronald Bracewell, published 2005. All locations verified: Past Palo Alto location at Hopkins added, most campus locations indicated as no more, GSB updated to Lathrop Library, new locations at NW Lathrop Library and Lomita Drive added (Sairus Patel, Jan 2019). Barnum Center locations re-added (they must have been the ones described as north of the Bookstore); Faculty Club and ramrod-straight Palo Alto locations added (Sairus Patel, Jul 2021).