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Chihuahua white pine, Mexican white pine, pino enano, Southwestern white pine

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

Habit Trees to 30m; trunk to 0.9m diam., slender, straight; crown conic, becoming rounded to irregular. Trees to 10m; trunk to 0.5m diam., straight, much branched; crown dense, becoming rounded.
Bark

gray, aging red-brown, furrowed, with narrow, irregular, scaly ridges.

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

Branches

spreading-ascending;

twigs slender, pale red-brown, puberulous or glabrous, sometimes glaucous, aging gray or gray-brown, smooth.

spreading to ascending, persistent to trunk base;

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

Buds

ellipsoid, red-brown, ca. 1cm, resinous.

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

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.

(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.

Pollen cones

cylindric, ca. 6–10mm, pale yellow-brown.

ovoid, ca. 10mm, yellowish.

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, 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.

2n

=24.

Pinus strobiformis

Pinus quadrifolia

Habitat Arid to moist summit elevations, montane forests Dry rocky sites
Elevation 1900–3000m (6200–9800ft) 1200–1800m (3900–5900ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AZ; NM; TX; n Mexico
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
CA; Mexico in Baja California
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
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 quadrifolia is the rarest pinyon in the flora. It hybridizes naturally with P. monophylla.

(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. quadrifolia, P. radiata, P. resinosa, P. rigida, P. sabiniana, P. serotina, 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. 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
Synonyms P. ayacahuite var. brachyptera, P. ayacahuite var. reflexa, P. ayacahuite var. strobiformis, P. flexilis var. reflexa, P. reflexa P. cembroides var. parryana, P. juarezensis, P. parryana
Name authority Engelmann: in Wislizenus, Mem. Tour N. Mexico 102. (1848) Parlatore ex Sudworth: U.S.D.A. Div. Forest. Bull. 14: 17. (1897)
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