Pinus cembroides
Pinus elliottii
Mexican pinyon, pino piñonero, piñón
slash pine
red-brown to dark brown, shallowly and irregularly furrowed, ridges broad, scaly.
orange- to purple-brown, irregularly furrowed and cross-checked into large, irregularly rectangular, papery-scaly plates.
spreading-ascending;
twigs red-brown, sometimes finely papillate, aging gray to gray-brown.
spreading to ascending;
twigs stout (to ca. 1cm thick), orange-brown, aging darker brown, rough-scaly.
ovoid to short cylindric, pale red-brown, 0.5–1.2cm, slightly resinous.
cylindric, silvery brown, 1.5–2cm;
scale margins fringed.
(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 or 3 per fascicle, spreading or ascending, persisting ca. 2 years, 15–20(–23)cm × 1.2–1.5mm, straight, slightly twisted, pliant, yellow- to blue-green, all surfaces with stomatal lines, margins finely serrulate, apex abruptly acute to acuminate;
sheath 1–2cm, base persistent.
ellipsoid, to 10mm, yellow.
cylindric, 30–40mm, purplish.
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, falling the year after seed-shed, single or in pairs, symmetric, lance-ovoid before opening, ovoid or ovoid-cylindric when open, (7–)9–18(–20)cm, light chocolate brown, on stalks to 3cm;
apophyses lustrous (as if varnished), slightly raised, strongly cross-keeled;
umbo central, depressed-pyramidal, with short, stout prickle.
=24.
Pinus cembroides
Pinus elliottii
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.)
Varieties 2 (native only in the flora).
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
1. Seedlings essentially without grass stage, buds thus scattered on the stem; leaves mostly in 3s, sometimes in 2s on same shoot; resin canals 3-5 per leaf; base of open cone ± truncate. | var. elliottii |
1. Seedlings tending toward a grass stage, buds thus crowded on contracted stems; leaves mostly in 2s, sometimes in 3s on same shoot; resin canals 3-9 per leaf; base of open cone rounded. | var. densa |
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