Pinus cembroides |
Pinus coulteri |
|
---|---|---|
Mexican pinyon, pino piñonero, piñón |
big-cone pine, Coulter pine |
|
Habit | Shrubs or trees to 15m; trunk to 0.3m diam., strongly tapering, much branched; crown rounded. | Trees to 24m; trunk to 1m diam., straight to contorted; crown broad, thin, irregular. |
Bark | red-brown to dark brown, shallowly and irregularly furrowed, ridges broad, scaly. |
dark gray-brown to near black, deeply furrowed, with long, scaly, irregularly anastomosing, rounded ridges. |
Branches | spreading-ascending; twigs red-brown, sometimes finely papillate, aging gray to gray-brown. |
often ascending; twigs stout to moderately slender, violet-brown, often glaucous, aging gray-brown, rough. |
Buds | ovoid to short cylindric, pale red-brown, 0.5–1.2cm, slightly resinous. |
ovoid, deep red-brown, 1.5(–3)cm, resinous; scale margins white-fringed, apex cuspidate. |
Leaves | (2–)3(–4) per fascicle, spreading to upcurved, persisting 3–4 years, 2–6cm × 0.6–0.9(–1)mm, connivent, 2–3-sided, blue- to gray-green, abaxial surface not conspicuously whitened with stomatal bands or if stomatal bands present, these less conspicuous than on adaxial surfaces, often with 2 subepidermal resin bands evident, adaxial surfaces conspicuously whitened with stomatal lines, margins entire to finely serrulate, apex narrowly conic or subulate; sheath 0.5–0.7cm, scales soon recurved, forming rosette, shed early. |
3 per fascicle, slightly spreading, not drooping, mostly ascending in a brush, persisting 3–4 years, 15–30cm × ca. 2mm, slightly curved or straight, twisted, dusty gray-green, all surfaces with pale, fine stomatal lines, margins serrulate, apex abruptly subulate; sheath 2–4cm, base persistent. |
Pollen cones | ellipsoid, to 10mm, yellow. |
ovoid to cylindric, to 25mm, light purple-brown, aging orange-brown. |
Seed(s) | cones maturing in 2 years, shedding seeds and falling soon thereafter, spreading, symmetric, ovoid before opening, broadly depressed-ovoid to nearly globose when open, 1–3.5cm, pale yellow- to pale red-brown, resinous, nearly sessile or short-stalked; apophyses thickened, slightly domed, angulate, transversely keeled; umbo subcentral, slightly raised to depressed, truncate or umbilicate. |
cones maturing in 2 years, gradually shedding seeds thereafter and moderately persistent, massive, heavy, drooping, asymmetric at base, narrowly ovoid before opening, ovoid-cylindric when open, 20–35cm, pale yellow-brown, resinous, stalks to 3cm; apophyses transverse-rhombic, strongly and sharply cross-keeled, elongate, curved, continuous with umbos to form long, upcurved claws 2.5–3cm. |
2n | =24. |
=24. |
Pinus cembroides |
Pinus coulteri |
|
Habitat | Pinyon-juniper woodland, foothills, mesas, tablelands | Dry rocky slopes, flats, ridges, and chaparral, transitional to oak-pine woodland |
Elevation | 700–2300m (2300–7500ft) | 300–2100m (1000–6900ft) |
Distribution |
AZ; NM; TX; Mexico
|
CA; Mexico in Baja California
|
Discussion | Pinus cembroides is the common pinyon of Mexican commerce. Populations of the Edwards Plateau, Texas, are disjunct about 150km east and north of the main area of distribution of the species, and they have been described as a distinct variety, P. cembroides var. remota Little, on the basis of thin seed shell and a higher frequency of 2-leaved fascicles in contrast to the thicker seed shell and prevalently 3-leaved fascicles in Mexican pinyon populations to the west and south. The strong overlap in nearly all character states between the populations of the Edwards Plateau and other populations makes var. remota difficult to maintain. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Pinus coulteri is the heaviest-coned pine; one who seeks its shade should wear a hardhat. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 2. | FNA vol. 2. |
Parent taxa | Pinaceae > Pinus | Pinaceae > Pinus |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | P. cembroides var. bicolor, P. cembroides var. remota, P. discolor, P. remota | |
Name authority | Zuccarini: Abh. Math.-Phys. Cl. Königl. Bayer. Akad. Wiss. 1: 392. (1832) | D. Don: Trans. Linn. Soc. London, Bot. 17: 440. (1836) |
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