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

hickory pine, mountain pine, prickley pine, table mountain pine

Habit Shrubs or trees to 21m; trunk to 0.6m diam., strongly tapering, erect; crown conic, rounded, dense. Trees to 12m; trunk to 0.6m diam., straight to crooked, erect to leaning, poorly self-pruning; crown irregularly rounded or flattened.
Bark

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

red- to gray-brown, irregularly checked into scaly plates.

Branches

persistent to near trunk base;

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

horizontally spreading;

twigs slender, orange- to yellow-brown, aging darker brown, rough.

Buds

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

ovoid to cylindric, red-brown, 0.6–0.9cm, 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.

2(–3) per fascicle, spreading or ascending, persisting 3 years, 3–6(–8)cm × 1–1.5mm, twisted, deep yellow-green, all surfaces with fine stomatal lines, margins harshly serrulate, apex acute to short-acuminate;

sheath 0.5–1cm, base persistent.

Pollen cones

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

ellipsoid, ca. 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, variably serotinous, mostly whorled, downcurved, asymmetric, ovoid before opening, broadly ovoid when open, (4–)6–10cm, gray- to pale red-brown, nearly sessile or on stalks to 1cm;

apophyses thickened, diamond-shaped, strongly keeled, elongate, mammillate at cone base abaxially;

umbo central, a stout, curved, sharp claw.

2n

=24.

=24.

Pinus edulis

Pinus pungens

Habitat Dry mountain slopes, mesas, plateaus, and pinyon-juniper woodland Dry, mostly sandy or shaly uplands, Appalachians and associated Piedmont
Elevation 1500–2100(–2700)m (4900–6900(–8900)ft) 500–1350m (1600–4400ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AZ; CA; CO; NM; OK; TX; UT; WY; Mexico in Chihuahua
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
DE; GA; MD; NC; NJ; PA; SC; TN; VA; WV
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[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 pungens is a scrub pine and is too small and knotty to be much utilized except for pulpwood and firewood. Its common name refers to a general type of landform, not to a specific, named mountain.

(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. monticola, P. muricata, P. palustris, P. ponderosa, 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
Name authority Engelmann: in Wislizenus, Mem. Tour N. Mexico 88. (1848) Lambert: Ann. Bot. (London) 2: 198. (1805)
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