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Colorado pinyon, pinyon, piñon pine, piñón, two needle pinyon pine, two-needle pinyon

pin argenté, western white pine

Habit Shrubs or trees to 21m; trunk to 0.6m diam., strongly tapering, erect; crown conic, rounded, dense. Trees to 70m; trunk to 2.5m diam., straight; crown narrowly conic, becoming broad and flattened.
Bark

red-brown, shallowly and irregularly furrowed, ridges scaly, rounded.

gray, distinctly platy, plates scaly.

Branches

persistent to near trunk base;

twigs pale red-brown to tan, rarely glaucous, aging gray-brown to gray, glabrous to papillose-puberulent.

nearly whorled, spreading-ascending;

twigs slender, pale red-brown, rusty puberulent and slightly glandular (rarely glabrous), aging purple-brown or gray, smooth.

Buds

ovoid to ellipsoid, red-brown, 0.5–1cm, resinous.

ellipsoid or cylindric, rust-colored, 0.4–0.5cm, slightly resinous.

Leaves

(1–)2(–3) per fascicle, upcurved, persisting 4–6 years, 2–4cm × (0.9–)1–1.5mm, connivent, 2-sided (1-leaved fascicles with leaves 2-grooved, 3-leaved fascicles with leaves 3-sided), blue-green, all surfaces marked with pale stomatal bands, particularly the adaxial, margins entire or finely serrulate, apex narrowly acute to subulate;

sheath 0.5–0.7cm, scales soon recurved, forming rosette, shed early.

5 per fascicle, spreading to ascending, persisting 3–4 years, 4–10cm × 0.7–1mm, straight, slightly twisted, pliant, blue-green, abaxial surface without evident stomatal lines, adaxial surfaces with evident stomatal lines, margins finely serrulate, apex broadly to narrowly acute;

sheath 1–1.5cm, shed early.

Pollen cones

ellipsoid, ca. 7mm, yellowish to red-brown.

ellipsoid, 10–15mm, yellow.

Seed(s)

cones maturing in 2 years, shedding seeds and falling soon thereafter, spreading, symmetric, ovoid before opening, depressed-ovoid to nearly globose when open, ca. (3.5–)4(–5)cm, pale yellow- to pale red-brown, resinous, nearly sessile to short-stalked;

apophyses thickened, raised, angulate;

umbo subcentral, slightly raised or depressed, truncate or umbilicate.

cones maturing in 2 years, shedding seeds and falling soon thereafter, clustered, pendent, symmetric, lance-cylindric to ellipsoid-cylindric before opening, broadly lanceoloid to ellipsoid-cylindric when open, 10–25cm, creamy brown to yellowish, without purple or gray tints, resinous, stalks to 2cm;

umbo terminal, depressed.

2n

=24.

=24.

Pinus edulis

Pinus monticola

Habitat Dry mountain slopes, mesas, plateaus, and pinyon-juniper woodland Montane moist forests, lowland fog forests
Elevation 1500–2100(–2700)m (4900–6900(–8900)ft) 0–3000m (0–9800ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AZ; CA; CO; NM; OK; TX; UT; WY; Mexico in Chihuahua
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
CA; ID; MT; NV; OR; WA; AB; BC
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Pinus edulis var. fallax Little (P. californiarum subsp. fallax (Little) D.K.Bailey) appears to combine features of P. edulis and P. monophylla. More study is needed.

Seeds of Pinus edulis, the commonest southwestern United States pinyon, are much eaten and traded by Native Americans.

Pinyon (Pinus edulis) is the state tree of New Mexico.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Pinus monticola is the most important western source for matchwood. Its wood lacks the sugary exudates seen in P. lambertiana.

Western white pine (Pinus monticola) is the state tree of Idaho.

(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
P. albicaulis, P. aristata, P. attenuata, P. balfouriana, P. banksiana, P. cembroides, P. clausa, P. contorta, P. coulteri, P. echinata, P. elliottii, P. engelmannii, P. flexilis, P. glabra, P. jeffreyi, P. lambertiana, P. leiophylla, P. longaeva, P. monophylla, P. monticola, P. muricata, P. palustris, P. ponderosa, P. pungens, P. quadrifolia, P. radiata, P. resinosa, P. rigida, P. sabiniana, P. serotina, P. strobiformis, P. strobus, P. sylvestris, P. taeda, P. torreyana, P. virginiana, P. washoensis
P. albicaulis, P. aristata, P. attenuata, P. balfouriana, P. banksiana, P. cembroides, P. clausa, P. contorta, P. coulteri, P. echinata, P. edulis, P. elliottii, P. engelmannii, P. flexilis, P. glabra, P. jeffreyi, P. lambertiana, P. leiophylla, P. longaeva, P. monophylla, P. muricata, P. palustris, P. ponderosa, P. pungens, P. quadrifolia, P. radiata, P. resinosa, P. rigida, P. sabiniana, P. serotina, P. strobiformis, P. strobus, P. sylvestris, P. taeda, P. torreyana, P. virginiana, P. washoensis
Synonyms Caryopitys edulis, P. cembroides var. edulis Strobus monticola
Name authority Engelmann: in Wislizenus, Mem. Tour N. Mexico 88. (1848) Douglas ex D. Don: in Lambert, Descr. Pinus [ed. 3] 2: unnumbered page between 144 and 145. (1832)
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