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Bishop pine

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

Habit Trees to 24m; trunk to 0.9m diam., straight to contorted; crown becoming rounded, flattened, or irregular. Trees to 14m; trunk to 0.5m diam., strongly tapering, much branched; crown usually rounded, dense.
Bark

dark gray, deeply furrowed, ridges long, scaly-plated.

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

Branches

spreading-ascending, often contorted;

twigs stout to slender, orange-brown, aging darker brown, rough.

spreading and ascending, persistent to near trunk base;

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

Buds

ovoid-cylindric, dark brown, 1–2.5cm, resinous.

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

scale margins fringed.

Leaves

2 per fascicle, spreading to upcurved, persisting 2–3 years, 8–15cm × (1.2–)1.5(–2)mm, slightly twisted, dark yellow-green, all surfaces with stomatal lines, margins strongly serrulate, apex abruptly conic-acute;

sheath to 1.5cm, base persistent.

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

ellipsoid, to 5mm, orange.

ellipsoid, ca. 10mm, yellow.

Seed(s)

cones maturing in 3 years, serotinous, long-persistent, mostly in whorls, mostly asymmetric, lanceoloid-ovoid before opening, curved-ovoid when open, 4–9cm, glossy bright to pale red-brown, sessile or on stalks to 1cm, mostly downcurved, scales with deep red-brown border distally on adaxial surface;

apophyses much thickened, the abaxial ones progressively more angulately dome-shaped toward base of cone;

umbo central, a stout-based, curved claw.

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 muricata

Pinus monophylla

Habitat Dry ridges to coastal, windshorn forests, often in or around bogs Dry low-montane or foothill pinyon-juniper woodland
Elevation 0–300m (0–1000ft) 1000–2300m (3300–7500ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CA; Mexico in Baja California
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AZ; CA; ID; NV; UT; Mexico in Baja California
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[BONAP county map]
Discussion

The several varieties described for Pinus muricata reflect the high variability in leaf characters and in degree of elaboration of apophysis and umbo in this species. The extremes can sometimes occur together.

Of conservation concern.

(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. flexilis, P. glabra, P. jeffreyi, P. lambertiana, P. leiophylla, P. longaeva, P. monophylla, P. monticola, 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 P. muricata var. borealis, P. muricata var. cedrosensis, P. muricata var. stantonii, P. radiata var. binata, P. remorata Caryopitys monophylla, P. californiarum, P. cembroides var. monophylla
Name authority D. Don: Trans. Linn. Soc. London, Bot. 17: 441. (1836) Torrey & Frémont: in Frémont, Rep. Exped. Rocky Mts. 2: 319, plate 4. (1845)
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