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limber pine, pin blanc de l'ouest

piñón, single leaf pinyon, single-leaf pine, singleleaf pinyon pine

Habit Trees to 26m; trunk to 2m diam., straight to contorted; crown conic, becoming rounded. Trees to 14m; trunk to 0.5m diam., strongly tapering, much branched; crown usually rounded, dense.
Bark

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

red-brown, irregularly furrowed or cross-checked, scaly.

Branches

spreading to ascending, often persistent to trunk base;

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

spreading and ascending, persistent to near trunk base;

twigs stout, orange-brown, aging brown to gray, sometimes sparsely puberulent.

Buds

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

lower scales ciliolate along margins.

ellipsoid, light red-brown, 0.5–0.7cm, resinous;

scale margins fringed.

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.

1(–2) per fascicle, ascending, persisting 4–6(–10) years, 2–6cm × 1.3–2(–2.5)mm, curved, terete (though often 2-grooved), gray-green, all surfaces with stomatal lines, margins entire, apex subulate;

sheath 0.5–1cm, scales soon recurved, forming rosette, shed early.

Pollen cones

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

ellipsoid, ca. 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, 4–6(–8)cm, pale yellow-brown, nearly sessile;

apophyses thickened, slightly raised;

umbo subcentral, raised or depressed, nearly truncate, apiculate.

2n

=24.

=24.

Pinus flexilis

Pinus monophylla

Habitat High montane forests, often at timberline Dry low-montane or foothill pinyon-juniper woodland
Elevation (1000–)1500–3600m ((3300–)4900–11800ft) 1000–2300m (3300–7500ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AZ; CA; CO; ID; MT; ND; NE; NM; NV; OR; SD; UT; WY; AB; BC
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AZ; CA; ID; NV; UT; Mexico in Baja California
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[BONAP county map]
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 monophylla hybridizes with P. edulis and P. quadrifolia.

Singleleaf pinyon (Pinus monophylla) is the state tree of Nevada.

(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. 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. 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 Caryopitys monophylla, P. californiarum, P. cembroides var. monophylla
Name authority E. James: Account Exped. Pittsburgh 2: 27, 35. (1823) Torrey & Frémont: in Frémont, Rep. Exped. Rocky Mts. 2: 319, plate 4. (1845)
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