Torrey Pines

 From La Jolla northward for several miles along the precipious cliffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean, the Torrey pines grow in a few sheltered spots. These twisted, wind-blown trees are a very rare species, remainders of an ancient forest that was disrupted when glacial and geological movements separated what are now the Channel Islands from the California coast. The Torrey pines were recognized as a distinct species by Dr.Joseph L.LeConte in 1850. Dr.C C.Parry, then engaged with the Mexican Boundary Survey, was told of the find, and the two men named the trees after their former instructor, Dr.Jonh Torrey of Columbia University, who had reported on the plant collections of Fremont’s first two expeditions and had visited California in 1865 and 1872. Torrey Pines State Park, south of Del Mar, encloses most of the trees on the mainland. The only other place where these trees are found is on Santa Rosa Island, one of the Channel Islands.
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