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

lodgepole pine, scrub pine, shore pine

Habit Trees to 14m; trunk to 0.5m diam., strongly tapering, much branched; crown usually rounded, dense. Shrubs or trees to 50m; trunk to 0.9m diam., straight to contorted; crown various according to genetic race.
Bark

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

brown to gray- or red-brown, platy to furrowed.

Branches

spreading and ascending, persistent to near trunk base;

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

Twigs

slender, orange to red-brown, aging darker brown, rough.

Buds

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

scale margins fringed.

narrowly to broadly ovoid, dark red-brown, to 1.2cm, slightly resinous.

Leaves

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.

2 per fascicle, spreading or ascending, persisting 3–8 years, 2–8cm × 0.7–2(–3)mm, twisted, yellow-green to dark green, all surfaces with fine stomatal lines, margins finely serrulate, apex blunt to acute or narrowly acuminate;

sheath 0.3–0.6(–1)cm, persistent.

Pollen cones

ellipsoid, ca. 10mm, yellow.

ellipsoid to cylindric, 5–15mm, orange-red.

Seed(s)

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.

cones maturing in 2 years or variably serotinous, variably persistent, spreading to reflexed, often curved, nearly symmetric or variably asymmetric, lanceoloid to ovoid before opening, broadly ovoid to nearly globose when open, 2–6cm, tan to pale red-brown, lustrous, nearly sessile or on stalks to 1cm;

apophyses nearly rhombic, variously elongate, cross-keeled, often mammillate toward outer cone base and on inside above middle;

umbo central, depressed-triangular, prickle barely elongate to stubby or slender and to 6mm.

Lower

branches often descending, the upper spreading or ascending.

2n

=24.

=24 (variety not indicated).

Pinus monophylla

Pinus contorta

Habitat Dry low-montane or foothill pinyon-juniper woodland
Elevation 1000–2300m (3300–7500ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AZ; CA; ID; NV; UT; Mexico in Baja California
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AK; CA; CO; ID; MT; NV; OR; SD; UT; WA; WY; AB; BC; NT; SK; YT; only in the flora
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

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.)

Pinus contorta is fire successional over most of its range and is characterized by prolific seeding and high seed viability in disturbed habitats, often resulting in extremely slow-growing, overly dense stands. Some authors consider it to consist of 4 races; these have been given various infraspecific ranks, but perhaps they are more conventionally treated as 3 varieties.

Varieties 3.

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

Key
1. Leaves 2-7 cm × 0.7-0.9(-1.1) mm, dark green; mature trunk with bark evidently furrowed; seed cones strongly asymmetric, strongly recurved, persistent or variously serotinous.
var. contorta
1. Leaves (4-)5-8 cm × (0.7-)1-2(-3) mm, yellow-green; mature trunk with bark not evidently furrowed; seed cones asymmetric to nearly symmetric, recurved to spreading, variously serotinous or soon shed.
→ 2
2. Seed cones asymmetric, recurved, variously serotinous, long-persistent; mid and lower apophyses mostly much domed; main branches mostly horizontally spreading, not ascending at tip.
var. latifolia
2. Seed cones nearly symmetric, mostly spreading, not serotinous, not persistent; mid and lower apophyses mostly shallowly domed; main branches ascending at tips.
var. murrayana
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. 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
P. albicaulis, P. aristata, P. attenuata, P. balfouriana, P. banksiana, P. cembroides, P. clausa, 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
Subordinate taxa
P. contorta var. contorta, P. contorta var. latifolia, P. contorta var. murrayana
Synonyms Caryopitys monophylla, P. californiarum, P. cembroides var. monophylla
Name authority Torrey & Frémont: in Frémont, Rep. Exped. Rocky Mts. 2: 319, plate 4. (1845) Douglas ex Loudon: Arbor. Frutic. Brit. 4: 2292, figs. 2210, 2211. (1838)
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