Pinus rigida
Pinus sabiniana
pin rigide, pitch pine
California foothill pine, digger pine, foothill pine, ghost, gray, gray pine, or foothill pine
red-brown, deeply and irregularly furrowed, with long, irregularly rectangular, flat, scaly ridges, resin pockets absent.
dark brown to near black, irregularly and deeply furrowed, ridges irregularly rectangular or blocky, scaly, often breaking away, bases of furrows and underbark orangish.
arching-spreading to ascending, poorly self-pruning; 2-year-old branchlets stout (mostly over 5mm thick), orange-brown, aging darker brown, rough.
often ascending;
cone-bearing branchlets stout, twigs comparatively slender, both pale purple-brown and glaucous, aging gray, rough.
ovoid to ovoid-cylindric, red-brown, ca. 1–1.5cm, resinous;
scale margins fringed, apex cuspidate.
ovoid, red-brown, ca. 1cm, resinous;
scale margins white-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.
mostly 3 per fascicle, drooping, persisting 3–4 years, 15–32cm × 1.5mm, slightly twisted, dull blue-green, all surfaces with pale, narrow stomatal lines, margins serrulate, apex short-acuminate;
sheath to 2.4cm, base persistent.
cylindric, ca. 20mm, yellow.
ellipsoid, 10–15mm, 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 soon thereafter, persisting to 7 years, pendent, massive, heavy, nearly symmetric, ovoid before opening, broadly to narrowly ovoid or ovoid-cylindric when open, 15–25cm, dull brown, resinous, stalks to 5cm;
apophyses elongate, curved, continuous with umbos to form long, upcurved claws to 2cm.
=24.
= 24.
Pinus rigida
Pinus sabiniana
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.)
Seeds of Pinus sabiniana were an important food source for many Indian groups in California, sometimes collectively referred to as "Digger Indians." Because the name "Digger" has been used as a derogatory ethnic term, many people prefer to avoid using the vernacular name Digger pine.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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