we head back to where we began, torrey pines state reserve to visit its namesake - the rarest pine init's found only here and on one of the channel islands. it's a relict - making its last stand in california. but why here? how did it find just the right spot? what is it about this place that makes it the right spot? like most relicts, this one enjoyed a much wider range during the distant past. and as its range got smaller and smaller because the habitat, the climate was changing, it managed to find this one little corner of california where it could grow. because of that fog that comes in off the pacific during the warmer months - so then why isn't it all over the coastal sage scrub of california? it's not all over the coastal sage scrub because it can't compete. it has to have a marginal habitat and here it's provided by the sandstone cliffs and sandstone habitats that it's growing on. it's interesting also that this is a plant that we think speciated far to the south and rode those plates north to occupy the place where it is today. it's facing a bigger challenge maybe today than