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four-needle pinyon, nut pine, Parry pine, Parry pinyon, Parry pinyon pine, piñón, piñón de California

shortleaf pine

Habit Trees to 10m; trunk to 0.5m diam., straight, much branched; crown dense, becoming rounded. Trees to 40m; trunk to 1.2m diam., straight; crown rounded to conic.
Bark

red-brown, irregularly furrowed and cross-checked to irregularly rectangular, plates scaly.

red-brown, scaly-plated, plates with evident resin pockets.

Branches

spreading to ascending, persistent to trunk base;

twigs slender, pale orange-brown, puberulent-glandular, aging brown to gray-brown.

spreading-ascending; 2-year-old branchlets slender (ca. 5mm or less), greenish brown to red-brown, often glaucous, aging red-brown to gray, roughened and cracking below leafy portion.

Buds

ovoid, light red-brown, ca. 0.4–0.5cm, slightly resinous.

ovoid to cylindric, red-brown, 0.5–0.7(–1)cm, resinous.

Leaves

(3–)4(–5) per fascicle, persisting 3–4 years, (2–)3–6cm × (1–)1.2–1.7mm, curved, connivent, stiff, green to blue-green, margins entire to minutely scaly-denticulate, finely serrulate, apex subulate, adaxial surfaces mostly strongly whitened with stomatal bands, abaxial surface not so but 2 subepidermal resin bands evident;

sheath 0.5–0.6cm, scales soon recurved, forming rosette, shed early.

2(–3) per fascicle, spreading-ascending, persistent 3–5 years, (5–)7–11(–13)cm × ca. 1mm, straight, slightly twisted, gray- to yellow-green, all surfaces with fine stomatal lines, margins finely serrulate, apex abruptly acute;

sheath 0.5–1(–1.5)cm, base persistent.

Pollen cones

ovoid, ca. 10mm, yellowish.

cylindric, 15–20mm, yellow- to pale purple-green.

Seed(s)

cones maturing in 2 years, shedding seeds and falling soon thereafter, spreading, symmetric, ovoid before opening, broadly ovoid to depressed-globose when open, (3–)4–8(–10)cm, pale yellow-brown, sessile to short-stalked, apophyses thickened, strongly raised, diamond-shaped, transversely keeled, umbo subcentral, low-pyramidal or sunken, blunt.

cones maturing in 2 years, semipersistent, solitary or clustered, spreading, symmetric, lanceoloid or narrowly ovoid before opening, ovoid-conic when open, 4–6(–7)cm, red-brown, aging gray, nearly sessile or on stalks to 1cm, scales lacking contrasting dark border on adaxial surfaces distally;

umbo central, with elongate to short, stout, sharp prickle.

2n

=24.

Pinus quadrifolia

Pinus echinata

Habitat Dry rocky sites Uplands, dry forests
Elevation 1200–1800m (3900–5900ft) 200–610m (700–2000ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CA; Mexico in Baja California
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AL; AR; DE; FL; GA; IL; KY; LA; MD; MO; MS; NC; NY; OH; OK; PA; SC; TN; TX; VA; WV
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Pinus quadrifolia is the rarest pinyon in the flora. It hybridizes naturally with P. monophylla.

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

Although Pinus echinata is highly valued for timber and pulpwood, it is afflicted by root rot. It hybridizes with P. taeda, the pine most commonly associated with it.

(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. muricata, P. palustris, P. ponderosa, P. pungens, 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. 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
Synonyms P. cembroides var. parryana, P. juarezensis, P. parryana
Name authority Parlatore ex Sudworth: U.S.D.A. Div. Forest. Bull. 14: 17. (1897) Miller: Gard. Dict., ed. 8 Pinus no. 12. (1768)
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