Pinus flexilis |
Pinus cembroides |
|
---|---|---|
limber pine, pin blanc de l'ouest |
Mexican pinyon, pino piñonero, piñón |
|
Habit | Trees to 26m; trunk to 2m diam., straight to contorted; crown conic, becoming rounded. | Shrubs or trees to 15m; trunk to 0.3m diam., strongly tapering, much branched; crown rounded. |
Bark | gray, nearly smooth, cross-checked in age into scaly plates and ridges. |
red-brown to dark brown, shallowly and irregularly furrowed, ridges broad, scaly. |
Branches | spreading to ascending, often persistent to trunk base; twigs pale red-brown, puberulous (rarely glabrous), slightly resinous, aging gray, smooth. |
spreading-ascending; twigs red-brown, sometimes finely papillate, aging gray to gray-brown. |
Buds | ovoid, light red-brown, 0.9–1cm, resinous; lower scales ciliolate along margins. |
ovoid to short cylindric, pale red-brown, 0.5–1.2cm, slightly resinous. |
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. |
(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. |
Pollen cones | broadly ellipsoid-cylindric, ca. 15mm, pale red or yellow. |
ellipsoid, to 10mm, yellow. |
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, 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. |
2n | =24. |
=24. |
Pinus flexilis |
Pinus cembroides |
|
Habitat | High montane forests, often at timberline | Pinyon-juniper woodland, foothills, mesas, tablelands |
Elevation | (1000–)1500–3600m ((3300–)4900–11800ft) | 700–2300m (2300–7500ft) |
Distribution |
AZ; CA; CO; ID; MT; ND; NE; NM; NV; OR; SD; UT; WY; AB; BC
|
AZ; NM; TX; Mexico
|
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 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.) |
Source | FNA vol. 2. | FNA vol. 2. |
Parent taxa | Pinaceae > Pinus | Pinaceae > Pinus |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Apinus flexilis | P. cembroides var. bicolor, P. cembroides var. remota, P. discolor, P. remota |
Name authority | E. James: Account Exped. Pittsburgh 2: 27, 35. (1823) | Zuccarini: Abh. Math.-Phys. Cl. Königl. Bayer. Akad. Wiss. 1: 392. (1832) |
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