The Monterey pine (Pinus radiata) is native to the Central Coast of California and two Mexican islands, Guadalupe and Cedros. In the wild it grows to 50-100 feet tall, with bright green needles in clusters of three.
It grows very fast, up to six and a half feet in a year, and is grown for timber across temperate parts of the world, which is why it is a familiar tree in places like New Zealand. In its natural range, though, it faces serious threats from a fungal disease, pine pitch canker, and from a shoot moth.
Carmel Mission’s early wooden church was built from nearby pine and cypress.