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limber pine, pin blanc de l'ouest

knobcone pine

Habit Trees to 26m; trunk to 2m diam., straight to contorted; crown conic, becoming rounded. Shrubs or trees to 24m; trunk to 0.8m diam., usually straight; crown mostly narrowly to broadly conic.
Bark

gray, nearly smooth, cross-checked in age into scaly plates and ridges.

purple-brown to dark brown, shallowly and narrowly fissured, with irregular, flat, loose-scaly plates, on upper sections of trunk nearly smooth.

Branches

spreading to ascending, often persistent to trunk base;

twigs pale red-brown, puberulous (rarely glabrous), slightly resinous, aging gray, smooth.

ascending;

twigs slender, red-brown.

Buds

ovoid, light red-brown, 0.9–1cm, resinous;

lower scales ciliolate along margins.

ovoid to ovoid-cylindric, dark red-brown, aging darker, ca. 1.5cm, resinous;

scale margins fringed, apex attenuate.

Leaves

5 per fascicle, spreading to upcurved and ascending, persisting 5–6 years, 3–7cm × 1–1.5mm, pliant, dark green, abaxial surface with less conspicuous stomatal bands than adaxial surfaces, adaxial surfaces with strong, pale stomatal bands, margins finely serrulate, apex conic-acute to acuminate;

sheath 1–1.5(–2)cm, shed early.

3 per fascicle, spreading or ascending, persisting 4–5 years, (8–)9–15(–20)cm × (1–)1.3–1.8mm, straight or slightly curved, twisted, yellow-green, all surfaces with fine stomatal lines, margins serrulate, apex abruptly conic-subulate;

sheath (1–)1.5–2cm, base persistent.

Pollen cones

broadly ellipsoid-cylindric, ca. 15mm, pale red or yellow.

ellipsoid-cylindric, 10–15mm, orange-brown.

Seed(s)

cones maturing in 2 years, shedding seeds and falling soon thereafter, spreading, symmetric, lance-ovoid before opening, cylindro-ovoid when open, 7–15cm, straw-colored, resinous, sessile to short-stalked, apophyses much thickened, strongly cross-keeled, umbo terminal, depressed.

cones maturing in 2 years, serotinous, long-persistent, remaining closed for 20 years or more, or opening on burning, in whorls, hard and heavy, very asymmetric, lanceoloid before opening, ovoid-cylindric when open, 8–15cm, yellow- or pale red-brown, stalks to 1cm;

apophyses toward outside base increasingly elongate, mammillate or raised-angled-conic, downcurved near base, scarcely raised on branchlet side, rhombic;

umbo central, low-pyramidal, sharp, upcurved.

2n

=24.

=24.

Pinus flexilis

Pinus attenuata

Habitat High montane forests, often at timberline Fire successional on dry slopes and foothills of Sierra Nevada and the Cascade and Coast ranges
Elevation (1000–)1500–3600m ((3300–)4900–11800ft) 300–1200m (1000–3900ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AZ; CA; CO; ID; MT; ND; NE; NM; NV; OR; SD; UT; WY; AB; BC
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from FNA
CA; OR; Mexico in Baja California
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Discussion

Pinus flexilis, much branched with a strongly tapering trunk, is little utilized because of its form and relative inaccessibility. It reportedly forms intermediates with P. strobiformis where the two overlap. The fresh-cut wood has the odor of turpentine.

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

Pinus attenuata, mostly a chaparral species, bears cones at an early age. Its seed crops are heavy, and a hot fire permits the seeds to be released. It forms hybrids with P. muricata and P. radiata.

(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. engelmannii, 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. 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. 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 Apinus flexilis P. tuberculata
Name authority E. James: Account Exped. Pittsburgh 2: 27, 35. (1823) Lemmon: Mining Sci. Press 64: 45. (1892)
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