familyPinaceae
genusPinus

Pinus edulis

Engelmann

in Wislizenus, Mem. Tour N. Mexico 88. 1848.

Common names: Pinyon piñón
Synonyms: Caryopitys edulis (Engelmann) Small Pinus cembroides var. edulis (Engelmann) Voss
Treatment appears in FNA Volume 2.

Shrubs or trees to 21m; trunk to 0.6m diam., strongly tapering, erect; crown conic, rounded, dense. Bark red-brown, shallowly and irregularly furrowed, ridges scaly, rounded. Branches persistent to near trunk base; twigs pale red-brown to tan, rarely glaucous, aging gray-brown to gray, glabrous to papillose-puberulent. Buds ovoid to ellipsoid, red-brown, 0.5–1cm, resinous. Leaves (1–)2(–3) per fascicle, upcurved, persisting 4–6 years, 2–4cm × (0.9–)1–1.5mm, connivent, 2-sided (1-leaved fascicles with leaves 2-grooved, 3-leaved fascicles with leaves 3-sided), blue-green, all surfaces marked with pale stomatal bands, particularly the adaxial, margins entire or finely serrulate, apex narrowly acute to subulate; sheath 0.5–0.7cm, scales soon recurved, forming rosette, shed early. Pollen cones ellipsoid, ca. 7mm, yellowish to red-brown. Seed cones maturing in 2 years, shedding seeds and falling soon thereafter, spreading, symmetric, ovoid before opening, depressed-ovoid to nearly globose when open, ca. (3.5–)4(–5)cm, pale yellow- to pale red-brown, resinous, nearly sessile to short-stalked; apophyses thickened, raised, angulate; umbo subcentral, slightly raised or depressed, truncate or umbilicate. Seeds mostly ellipsoid to obovoid; body 10–15mm, brown, wingless. 2n =24.


Habitat: Dry mountain slopes, mesas, plateaus, and pinyon-juniper woodland
Elevation: 1500–2100(–2700)m

Distribution

V2 351-distribution-map.gif

Ariz., Calif., Colo., N.Mex., Okla., Tex., Utah, Wyo., Mexico in Chihuahua.

Discussion

Pinus edulis var. fallax Little (P. californiarum subsp. fallax (Little) D.K.Bailey) appears to combine features of P. edulis and P. monophylla. More study is needed.

Seeds of Pinus edulis, the commonest southwestern United States pinyon, are much eaten and traded by Native Americans.

Pinyon (Pinus edulis) is the state tree of New Mexico.

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa

None.
... more about "Pinus edulis"
Robert Kral +
Engelmann +
Pinyon +  and piñón +
Ariz. +, Calif. +, Colo. +, N.Mex. +, Okla. +, Tex. +, Utah +, Wyo. +  and Mexico in Chihuahua. +
1500–2100(–2700)m +
Dry mountain slopes, mesas, plateaus, and pinyon-juniper woodland +
in Wislizenus, Mem. Tour N. Mexico +
Caryopitys edulis +  and Pinus cembroides var. edulis +
Pinus edulis +
species +