Pinus rigida
Pinus jeffreyi
pin rigide, pitch pine
Jeffrey pine
red-brown, deeply and irregularly furrowed, with long, irregularly rectangular, flat, scaly ridges, resin pockets absent.
yellow-brown to cinnamon, deeply furrowed and cross-checked, forming large irregular scaly plates.
arching-spreading to ascending, poorly self-pruning; 2-year-old branchlets stout (mostly over 5mm thick), orange-brown, aging darker brown, rough.
spreading-ascending;
twigs stout (to 2cm thick), purple-brown, often glaucous, aging rough.
ovoid to ovoid-cylindric, red-brown, ca. 1–1.5cm, resinous;
scale margins fringed, apex cuspidate.
ovoid, tan to pale red-brown, 2–3cm, not resinous;
scale margins conspicuously fringed.
3(–5) per fascicle, spreading to ascending, persisting 2–3 years, 5–10(–15)cm × 1–1.5(–2)mm, straight, twisted, deep to pale yellow-green, all surfaces with fine stomatal lines, margins serrulate, apex abruptly subulate-acuminate;
sheath 0.9–1.2cm, base persistent.
3 per fascicle, spreading-ascending, persisting (2–)4–6(–7) years, 12–22(–25)cm × ca. 1.5–2mm, slightly twisted, gray- to yellow-green, all surfaces with fine stomatal lines, margins finely serrulate, apex acute to acuminate;
sheath (1–)1.5–2.5(–3)cm, base persistent.
cylindric, ca. 20mm, yellow.
lance-cylindric, 20–35mm, yellow to yellow- or purple-brown or yellow.
cones maturing in 2 years, shedding seeds soon thereafter or variously serotinous and long-persistent, often clustered, symmetric, conic to ovoid before opening, broadly ovoid with flat or slightly convex base when open, 3–9cm, creamy brown to light red-brown, sessile to short-stalked, base truncate, scales firm, with dark red-brown border on adaxial surface distally;
apophyses slightly raised, rhombic, with strong transverse keels;
umbo central, low-triangular, with slender, downcurved prickle.
cones maturing in 2 years, shedding seeds and falling soon thereafter, nearly terminal, spreading, slightly asymmetric at base, ovoid-conic before opening, cylindro-ovoid when open, (10–)15–30cm, light red-brown, nearly sessile or on stalks to 0.5cm, abaxial surface of scales not darker than or sharply contrasting in color with adaxial surface, scales in low spirals (as compared to Pinus ponderosa) of 8 or more per row as viewed from side, those of cones just prior to and after cone fall not so spreading and deflexed, thus not so much separated from adjacent scales;
apophyses slightly thickened and raised, not keeled;
umbo central, slightly raised, with short, slender, reflexed prickle.
=24.
=24.
Pinus rigida
Pinus jeffreyi
Pinus rigida often has poor form and is not valued highly as saw timber. It is fire successional, sprouts adventitiously, and is frequently shrubby in the northern part of its range. It is known to hybridize naturally with P. echinata.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Pinus jeffreyi has a form very similar to that of P. ponderosa, but it is a smaller species when compared with sympatric populations of the latter. It is cut and sold under the same name as P. ponderosa, but the sweetish odor of the fresh-cut wood contrasts sharply with the turpentine odor of ponderosa pine. The resin chemistry of the two species is significantly different.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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