Pinus cembroides |
Pinus lambertiana |
|
---|---|---|
Mexican pinyon, pino piñonero, piñón |
sugar pine |
|
Habit | Shrubs or trees to 15m; trunk to 0.3m diam., strongly tapering, much branched; crown rounded. | Trees to 75m; trunk to 3.3m diam., massive, straight; crown narrowly conic, becoming rounded. |
Bark | red-brown to dark brown, shallowly and irregularly furrowed, ridges broad, scaly. |
cinnamon- to gray-brown, deeply furrowed, plates long, scaly. |
Branches | spreading-ascending; twigs red-brown, sometimes finely papillate, aging gray to gray-brown. |
spreading, distal branches ascending; twigs gray-green to red-tan, aging gray, mostly puberulent. |
Buds | ovoid to short cylindric, pale red-brown, 0.5–1.2cm, slightly resinous. |
cylindro-ovoid, red-brown, to 0.8cm, resinous. |
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. |
5 per fascicle, spreading to ascending, persisting 2–4 years, 5–10cm × (0.9–)1–1.5(–2)mm, straight, slightly twisted, pliant, blue-green, abaxial surface with only a few lines evident, adaxial surfaces with evident white stomatal lines, margins finely serrulate, apex acuminate; sheath (1–)1.5–2cm, shed early. |
Pollen cones | ellipsoid, to 10mm, yellow. |
ellipsoid-cylindric, to 15mm, yellow. |
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, shedding seeds and falling soon thereafter, often clustered, pendent, symmetric, cylindric before opening, lance-cylindric to ellipsoid-cylindric when open, 25–50cm, yellow-brown, stalks 6–15cm; apophyses somewhat thickened; umbo terminal, depressed, resinous, slightly excurved. |
2n | =24. |
=24. |
Pinus cembroides |
Pinus lambertiana |
|
Habitat | Pinyon-juniper woodland, foothills, mesas, tablelands | Montane dry to moist forests |
Elevation | 700–2300m (2300–7500ft) | 330–3200m (1100–10500ft) |
Distribution |
AZ; NM; TX; Mexico
|
CA; NV; OR; Mexico in n 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.) |
The largest species of the genus, Pinus lambertiana also has the longest seed cone in the genus. It is an important timber tree with harvest far exceeding regrowth. It is easily distinguished from P. monticola and P. strobus by its larger cones and thicker cone scales with larger seeds; it is somewhat less reliably distinguished by its leaves, which are slightly wider and more tapering-tipped and have some stomatal lines evident on the abaxial surfaces (the lines not evident in P. monticola and P. strobus). A "sugary" resin high in cyclitols exudes from the sweet-scented fresh-cut wood. (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) | Douglas: Trans. Linn. Soc. London, Bot. 15: 500. (1827) |
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