Pinus strobiformis
Pinus aristata
Chihuahua white pine, Mexican white pine, pino enano, Southwestern white pine
bristlecone pine, Colorado bristlecone pine, Rocky Mountain bristlecone pine
gray, aging red-brown, furrowed, with narrow, irregular, scaly ridges.
gray to red-brown, shallowly fissured, with long, flat, irregular ridges.
spreading-ascending;
twigs slender, pale red-brown, puberulous or glabrous, sometimes glaucous, aging gray or gray-brown, smooth.
contorted;
twigs pale red-brown, aging gray, puberulent, young branches resembling long bottlebrushes because of persistent leaves.
ellipsoid, red-brown, ca. 1cm, resinous.
ovoid-acuminate, pale red-brown, ca. 1cm, resinous.
5 per fascicle, spreading to ascending-upcurved, persisting 3–5 years, 4–9cm × 0.6–1mm, straight, slightly twisted, pliant, dark green to blue-green, abaxial surface without evident stomatal lines, adaxial surfaces conspicuously whitened by narrow stomatal lines, margins sharp, razorlike and entire to finely serrulate, apex narrowly acute to short-subulate;
sheath 1.5–2cm, shed early.
5 per fascicle, upcurved, persisting 10–17 years, (2–)3–4cm × 0.8–1mm, mostly connivent, deep blue-green, with drops and scales of resin, abaxial surface with strong, narrow median groove, adaxial surfaces conspicuously whitened by stomates, margins entire or distantly serrulate, apex conic-acute to conic-subulate;
sheath 0.5–1.5cm, scales soon recurving, shed early.
cylindric, ca. 6–10mm, pale yellow-brown.
ellipsoid, ca. 10mm, bluish to red.
cones maturing in 2 years, shedding seeds and falling soon thereafter, pendent, symmetric, lance-cylindric before opening, broadly lance-cylindric when open, 15–25cm, creamy brown to light yellow-brown, stalks to 6cm;
apophyses somewhat thickened, strongly cross-keeled, tip reflexed;
umbo terminal, low.
cones maturing in 2 years, shedding seeds and falling soon thereafter, spreading, symmetric, lance-cylindric before opening, lance-ovoid to ovoid or cylindric when open, 6–11cm, purple to brown, nearly sessile;
apophyses much thickened;
umbo central, with triangular base, extended into slender, brittle prickle 4–10mm.
=24.
=24.
Pinus strobiformis
Pinus aristata
In the northern part of the range, Pinus strobiformis overlaps P. flexilis and reportedly hybridizes with it. On average P. strobiformis has longer, more slender leaves and thinner, more spreading-tipped apophyses than are found in P. flexilis, and stomatal bands are not evident on the abaxial surface of its leaves.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Pinus aristata has leaves usually narrower and sharper than in P. longaeva and P. balfouriana, and the leaves almost always have a narrow, median groove on the abaxial surface.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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USDA Plants Database
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