The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
enable glossary links

Apache pine, Arizona longleaf pine, pino real

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

Habit Trees to 35m; trunk to 0.6m diam., straight; crown irregularly rounded, rather thin. Shrubs or trees to 21m; trunk to 0.6m diam., strongly tapering, erect; crown conic, rounded, dense.
Bark

dark brown, at maturity deeply furrowed, ridges becoming yellowish, of narrow, elongate, scaly plates.

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

Branches

straight to ascending;

twigs stout (1–2cm thick), pale gray-brown, aging darker brown, rough.

persistent to near trunk base;

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

Buds

ovoid-conic, to 2cm, resinous;

scale margins pale fringed.

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

Leaves

3(–5) per fascicle, spreading-ascending, often drooping, forming a brush at twig tips, persisting 2 years, (20–)25–45cm × 2mm, dull green, all surfaces with fine stomatal lines, margins coarsely serrulate, apex conic-subulate;

sheath 3–4cm, base persistent.

(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.

Pollen cones

cylindric, ca. 25mm, yellow to yellow-brown.

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

Seed(s)

cones maturing in 2 years and shedding seeds soon thereafter, not persistent, terminal, sometimes curved, often asymmetric, lance-ovoid before opening, ovoid when open, 11–14cm, light dull brown, nearly sessile or short-stalked;

apophyses rhombic, somewhat to quite elongate, strongly raised toward outer cone base, sometimes curved, strongly cross-keeled, narrowed to thick, curved, broadly triangular-based umbo, this often producing outcurved claw.

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.

2n

=24.

=24.

Pinus engelmannii

Pinus edulis

Habitat High and dry mountain ranges, valleys, and plateaus Dry mountain slopes, mesas, plateaus, and pinyon-juniper woodland
Elevation 1500–2500m (4900–8200ft) 1500–2100(–2700)m (4900–6900(–8900)ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AZ; NM; Mexico
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AZ; CA; CO; NM; OK; TX; UT; WY; Mexico in Chihuahua
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

In general appearance Pinus engelmannii much resembles P. palustris with its short-persistent, long leaves (but in this species drooping) and in its tendency to form a grass stage. It has a deep taproot as do P. palustris and P. ponderosa.

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

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.)

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. edulis, P. elliottii, 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. 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
Synonyms P. macrophylla, P. apacheca, P. latifolia Caryopitys edulis, P. cembroides var. edulis
Name authority Carrière Engelmann: in Wislizenus, Mem. Tour N. Mexico 88. (1848)
Web links