Pinus cembroides
Pinus echinata
Mexican pinyon, pino piñonero, piñón
shortleaf pine
red-brown to dark brown, shallowly and irregularly furrowed, ridges broad, scaly.
red-brown, scaly-plated, plates with evident resin pockets.
spreading-ascending;
twigs red-brown, sometimes finely papillate, aging gray to gray-brown.
spreading-ascending; 2-year-old branchlets slender (ca. 5mm or less), greenish brown to red-brown, often glaucous, aging red-brown to gray, roughened and cracking below leafy portion.
ovoid to short cylindric, pale red-brown, 0.5–1.2cm, slightly resinous.
ovoid to cylindric, red-brown, 0.5–0.7(–1)cm, resinous.
(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.
2(–3) per fascicle, spreading-ascending, persistent 3–5 years, (5–)7–11(–13)cm × ca. 1mm, straight, slightly twisted, gray- to yellow-green, all surfaces with fine stomatal lines, margins finely serrulate, apex abruptly acute;
sheath 0.5–1(–1.5)cm, base persistent.
ellipsoid, to 10mm, yellow.
cylindric, 15–20mm, yellow- to pale purple-green.
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, semipersistent, solitary or clustered, spreading, symmetric, lanceoloid or narrowly ovoid before opening, ovoid-conic when open, 4–6(–7)cm, red-brown, aging gray, nearly sessile or on stalks to 1cm, scales lacking contrasting dark border on adaxial surfaces distally;
umbo central, with elongate to short, stout, sharp prickle.
=24.
=24.
Pinus cembroides
Pinus echinata
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.)
Although Pinus echinata is highly valued for timber and pulpwood, it is afflicted by root rot. It hybridizes with P. taeda, the pine most commonly associated with it.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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