Pinus flexilis
Pinus strobiformis
limber pine, pin blanc de l'ouest
Chihuahua white pine, Mexican white pine, pino enano, Southwestern white pine
gray, nearly smooth, cross-checked in age into scaly plates and ridges.
gray, aging red-brown, furrowed, with narrow, irregular, scaly ridges.
spreading to ascending, often persistent to trunk base;
twigs pale red-brown, puberulous (rarely glabrous), slightly resinous, aging gray, smooth.
spreading-ascending;
twigs slender, pale red-brown, puberulous or glabrous, sometimes glaucous, aging gray or gray-brown, smooth.
ovoid, light red-brown, 0.9–1cm, resinous;
lower scales ciliolate along margins.
ellipsoid, red-brown, ca. 1cm, resinous.
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.
5 per fascicle, spreading to ascending-upcurved, persisting 3–5 years, 4–9cm × 0.6–1mm, straight, slightly twisted, pliant, dark green to blue-green, abaxial surface without evident stomatal lines, adaxial surfaces conspicuously whitened by narrow stomatal lines, margins sharp, razorlike and entire to finely serrulate, apex narrowly acute to short-subulate;
sheath 1.5–2cm, shed early.
broadly ellipsoid-cylindric, ca. 15mm, pale red or yellow.
cylindric, ca. 6–10mm, pale yellow-brown.
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, pendent, symmetric, lance-cylindric before opening, broadly lance-cylindric when open, 15–25cm, creamy brown to light yellow-brown, stalks to 6cm;
apophyses somewhat thickened, strongly cross-keeled, tip reflexed;
umbo terminal, low.
=24.
=24.
Pinus flexilis
Pinus strobiformis
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.)
In the northern part of the range, Pinus strobiformis overlaps P. flexilis and reportedly hybridizes with it. On average P. strobiformis has longer, more slender leaves and thinner, more spreading-tipped apophyses than are found in P. flexilis, and stomatal bands are not evident on the abaxial surface of its leaves.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
BC
CA
OR
Flora NW
PNW Herbaria
SW CO Wildflowers
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
