Leaves thin, flat, rigid, linear or linear-lanceolate, gradually or abruptly narrowed toward the base, often falcate, especially on fertile branches, acuminate, with long slender callous tips, dark yellow-green, lustrous and slightly rounded on the upper surface marked below the middle with an obscure groove, silvery white or on old leaves pale on the lower surface, with bands of 8—10 rows of stomata between the broad midrib and the thickened strongly revolute margins, 2-ranked from the conspicuous twist near their base and spreading at nearly right angles to the branch, or pointing forward on upper fertile branches, 1½′—2¼′ long, on leading shoots standing out at almost right angles, rounded on the upper surface, more or less incurved above the middle, 1½′—1¾′ long, about ⅛′ wide. Flowers: male produced in great numbers near the base of the branchlets on branches from the middle of the tree upward, pale yellow; female near the ends of the branchlets of the upper branches only, with oblong scales rounded above and nearly as long as their cuneate obcordate yellow-green bracts ending in slender elongated awns. Fruit on stout peduncles sometimes ½′ long, oval or subcylindric, full and rounded at apex, glabrous, pale purple-brown, 3′—4′ long, with thin scales strongly incurved above, obtusely short-pointed at apex, obscurely denticulate on the thin margins, about one third longer than their oblong-obovate obcordate pale yellow-brown bracts terminating in flat rigid tips 1′—1¾′ long, above the middle of the cone pointing toward its apex and often closely appressed to its sides, below the middle spreading toward its base and frequently much recurved, firmly attached to the cone-scales and deciduous with them from the thick conical sharp-pointed axis of the cone; seeds dark red-brown, about ⅜′ long, and nearly as long as their oblong-obovate pale reddish brown lustrous wings rounded at the apex. A tree, 100°—150° high, with a trunk sometimes 3° in diameter, comparatively short slender usually pendulous branches furnished with long sinuous rather remote lateral branches sparsely clothed with foliage, forming a broad-based pyramid abruptly narrowed 15°—20° from the top of the tree into a thin spire-like head, and stout glabrous light reddish brown branchlets covered at first with a glaucous bloom. Winter-buds ovoid, acute, ¾′—1′ long, ¼′—⅓′ thick, with very thin, loosely imbricated, pale chestnut-brown, acute, boat-shaped scales. Bark becoming near the base of the tree ½′—¾′ thick, light reddish brown, slightly and irregularly fissured and broken into thick closely appressed scales. Wood heavy, not hard, coarse-grained, light brown tinged with yellow, with paler sapwood. Distribution. In the moist bottoms of cañons and on dry rocky summits, usually at elevations of about 3000° above the sea on both slopes of the outer western ridge of the Santa Lucia Mountains, Monterey County, California.