jwag's Identifications

This old Monterey Cypress has seen a lot of history behind Whaler's Cabin.

Monterey Cypress (Cupressus macrocarpa) is included in the CNPS Rare & Endangered Plants Inventory (1b.2). These native/endemic trees, once close to extinction due to habitat loss/homebuilding, occur naturally at the Pacific coast at elevation < 50 m in its native range. They can reach 82 ft (25m) tall and live about 300 years.
This magnificent tree is native only to the Monterey Peninsula and Point Lobos, though it is planted widely elsewhere. Younger trees have a narrow, pointed crown. When mature, they are often widely spreading with flattish, rounded crowns, sometimes dramatically wind-swept. Evergreen leaves are dark blue-green and scale-like. The bark is fibrous, ranging from a rich brown to ash-gray in age. Seed cones (fruits) are brown, 20--32 mm wide, spheric to elliptic, with 8--12 scales, shiny when fresh.

Some classic examples of Cupressus macrocarpa in California on the Monterey peninsula: "The Old Veteran" is clinging to the edge of the coastal cliff by its roots at Pt. Lobos. Another locally famous C. macrocarpa is "The Lone Cypress," a precariously-perched Monterey Cypress tree in Pebble Beach.

An excellent book-- (The) Monterey Pine Forest: Coastal California's Living Legacy, 2nd. ed, The Monterey Pine Forest Watch, 2018, pp. 16, 34, 37, 53.

Conifers of Western North America https://www.conifers.org/cu/Cupressus_macrocarpa.php and https://www.conifers.org/topics/W_NA_trees.php by Christopher J. Earle

Jepson eFlora https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=89298

Monterey County Wildflowers, Trees, and Ferns https://montereywildflowers.com/tree-cupressaceae/

Tale of Big Tree Hunting In California by Christopher J. Earle https://www.conifers.org/topics/biggest.php