Pinus strobiformis |
Pinus flexilis |
|
---|---|---|
Chihuahua white pine, Mexican white pine, pino enano, Southwestern white pine |
limber pine, pin blanc de l'ouest |
|
Habit | Trees to 30m; trunk to 0.9m diam., slender, straight; crown conic, becoming rounded to irregular. | Trees to 26m; trunk to 2m diam., straight to contorted; crown conic, becoming rounded. |
Bark | gray, aging red-brown, furrowed, with narrow, irregular, scaly ridges. |
gray, nearly smooth, cross-checked in age into scaly plates and ridges. |
Branches | spreading-ascending; twigs slender, pale red-brown, puberulous or glabrous, sometimes glaucous, aging gray or gray-brown, smooth. |
spreading to ascending, often persistent to trunk base; twigs pale red-brown, puberulous (rarely glabrous), slightly resinous, aging gray, smooth. |
Buds | ellipsoid, red-brown, ca. 1cm, resinous. |
ovoid, light red-brown, 0.9–1cm, resinous; lower scales ciliolate along margins. |
Leaves | 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, spreading to upcurved and ascending, persisting 5–6 years, 3–7cm × 1–1.5mm, pliant, dark green, abaxial surface with less conspicuous stomatal bands than adaxial surfaces, adaxial surfaces with strong, pale stomatal bands, margins finely serrulate, apex conic-acute to acuminate; sheath 1–1.5(–2)cm, shed early. |
Pollen cones | cylindric, ca. 6–10mm, pale yellow-brown. |
broadly ellipsoid-cylindric, ca. 15mm, pale red or yellow. |
Seed(s) | 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-ovoid before opening, cylindro-ovoid when open, 7–15cm, straw-colored, resinous, sessile to short-stalked, apophyses much thickened, strongly cross-keeled, umbo terminal, depressed. |
2n | =24. |
=24. |
Pinus strobiformis |
Pinus flexilis |
|
Habitat | Arid to moist summit elevations, montane forests | High montane forests, often at timberline |
Elevation | 1900–3000m (6200–9800ft) | (1000–)1500–3600m ((3300–)4900–11800ft) |
Distribution |
AZ; NM; TX; n Mexico
|
AZ; CA; CO; ID; MT; ND; NE; NM; NV; OR; SD; UT; WY; AB; BC
|
Discussion | 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 flexilis, much branched with a strongly tapering trunk, is little utilized because of its form and relative inaccessibility. It reportedly forms intermediates with P. strobiformis where the two overlap. The fresh-cut wood has the odor of turpentine. (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 | ||
Synonyms | P. ayacahuite var. brachyptera, P. ayacahuite var. reflexa, P. ayacahuite var. strobiformis, P. flexilis var. reflexa, P. reflexa | Apinus flexilis |
Name authority | Engelmann: in Wislizenus, Mem. Tour N. Mexico 102. (1848) | E. James: Account Exped. Pittsburgh 2: 27, 35. (1823) |
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