Pinus monophylla
in Frémont,Rep. Exped. Rocky Mts. 2: 319, plate 4. 1845.
Trees to 14m; trunk to 0.5m diam., strongly tapering, much branched; crown usually rounded, dense. Bark red-brown, irregularly furrowed or cross-checked, scaly. Branches spreading and ascending, persistent to near trunk base; twigs stout, orange-brown, aging brown to gray, sometimes sparsely puberulent. Buds ellipsoid, light red-brown, 0.5–0.7cm, resinous; scale margins fringed. Leaves 1(–2) per fascicle, ascending, persisting 4–6(–10) years, 2–6cm × 1.3–2(–2.5)mm, curved, terete (though often 2-grooved), gray-green, all surfaces with stomatal lines, margins entire, apex subulate; sheath 0.5–1cm, scales soon recurved, forming rosette, shed early. Pollen cones ellipsoid, ca. 10mm, yellow. Seed cones maturing in 2 years, shedding seeds and falling soon thereafter, spreading, symmetric, ovoid before opening, broadly depressed-ovoid to nearly globose when open, 4–6(–8)cm, pale yellow-brown, nearly sessile; apophyses thickened, slightly raised; umbo subcentral, raised or depressed, nearly truncate, apiculate. Seeds cylindric-ellipsoid; body 15–20mm, gray-brown to brown, wingless. 2n =24.
Habitat: Dry low-montane or foothill pinyon-juniper woodland
Elevation: 1000–2300m
Distribution
![V2 55-distribution-map.gif](/w/images/0/0d/V2_55-distribution-map.gif)
Ariz., Calif., Idaho, Nev., Utah, Mexico in Baja California.
Discussion
Pinus monophylla hybridizes with P. edulis and P. quadrifolia.
Singleleaf pinyon (Pinus monophylla) is the state tree of Nevada.
Selected References
None.