Pinus devoniana

Scientific name: Pinus devoniana Lindley 1839

Synonyms: Pinus devoniana subsp. nayaritana (Martínez) Silba, Pinus devoniana subsp. procera (Martínez) Silba, Pinus devoniana subsp. quevedoi (Martínez) Silba, Pinus devoniana subsp. tumida (Martínez) Silba, Pinus devoniana subsp. wincesteriana (Gordon) Silba, Pinus filifolia Lindl., Pinus grenvilleae Gordon, Pinus macrophylla Lindl., Pinus magnifica Roezl, Pinus michoacaensis Roezl, Pinus michoacana Martínez, Pinus michoacana f. nayaritana Martínez, Pinus michoacana f. procera Martínez, Pinus michoacana f. tumida Martínez, Pinus michoacana var. cornuta Martínez, Pinus michoacana var. quevedoi Martínez, Pinus montezumae var. macrophylla (Lindl.) Parl., Pinus nec-plus-ultra Roezl, Pinus ocampii Roezl, Pinus pawlikowskiana Roezl ex Carrière, Pinus pawlikowskiana Roezl ex Gordon, Pinus pawlowskiana Roezl ex Carrière, Pinus quevedoi (Martínez) Gaussen, Pinus skinneri Forbes ex Gordon, Pinus verschaffeltii Roezl ex Carrière, Pinus wincesteriana Gordon, Pinus zamoraensis Roezl ex Gordon, Pinus zitacuarensis Roezl, Pinus zitacuarensis var. nitida Carrière

Common names: Michoacan pine (English), Ocote gretado, Pino escobetón, Pino lacio, Pino real, Ocote macho (Spanish)

Description

Tree to 30 m tall, with trunk to 1 m in diameter. Bark dark reddish to grayish brown, broken up into vertical rows of small, scaly rectangular plates by deep, blackish furrows. Crown conical at first, broadening and rounding with age to become shallowly to deeply domed, with numerous horizontal to upwardly angled branches, densely clothed with foliage at the tips. Twigs dark brown, very coarse, shaggy with rings of persistent scale leaves and rough with the bases of scale leaves or these peeling away during the second year, hairless. Buds 15-40 mm, not conspicuously resinous. Needles in bundles of (four or) five (or six), each needle (20-)25-35(-45) cm long, stiff or slightly flexible, straight or slightly drooping, lasting 2-3 years, shiny green. Individual needles with evident lines of stomates on all three faces, and three or four (to six) resin canals deep within the leaf tissue at the corners and below the outer face or one or two touching the two-stranded midvein. Sheath 25-40(-45) mm long, weathering to 20-35 mm, dark brown to almost black, sticky with resin. Pollen cones densely crowded, 20-40 mm long, tan tinged with pale purple. Seed cones (15-)20-30(-37) cm long, elongately egg-shaped, slightly asymmetrical, often curved, with 150-250 seed scales, green before maturity, ripening light brown, opening widely to release the seeds and then falling, leaving behind a few basal scales attached to the stout, short stalk to 1.5(-2) cm long. Seed scales roughly rectangular with a shallowly triangular end, the exposed face diamond-shaped, slightly raised and crossed by a sharp ridge topped by a strong, variously raised umbo bearing a small, fragile prickle. Seed body (5-)6-8(-10) mm long, the clasping wing another 18-35 mm longer.

The name Pinus michoacana Martínez (the vernacular is Michoacan pine) is still in use in some publications (e.g. Perry 1991). However, the earlier, correct name for this species is Pinus devoniana Lindl.

Mountains of southern Guatemala and southern Mexico from central Chiapas north to southern San Luis Potosi and northern Nayarit. Usually mixed with other species in open pine or pine-oak forests on dry sites susceptible to fires; (700-)1,200-2,500(-3,000) m.

Conservation Status

Red List Category & Criteria: Least Concern

A widespread and common species that is not an important timber tree and is unlikely to be much reduced in secondary forest types.

This species is a constituent of relatively open, often secondary pine-oak forests, or it occurs with Pinus oocarpa invading burned mountainsides. It is well adapted to withstand fires by its juvenile "grass stage" similar to that of Pinus palustris of the SE USA. The pines most commonly associated with it vary somewhat from north to south and include Pinus oocarpa, Pinus montezumae, Pinus pseudostrobus, and Pinus maximinoi and less frequently Pinus cembroides at lower altitudes and Pinus hartwegii at higher altitudes. Common are also Quercus, Liquidambar, and in the understorey Calliandra, Leucaena, Acacia, Dodonaea, Gaultheria, and Mimosa. Its altitudinal range is (700-)900-2,500(-3,000) m a.s.l. Pinus devoniana grows on a variety of soils, often of volcanic origin. The climate is warm-temperate to subtropical, with annual precipitation 1,000-1,500 mm and a dry season from November to May.

Pinus devoniana is a common tree throughout the mountainous parts of S Mexico and Guatemala, often encountered in open, degraded pine-oak or pine forest. As it is not a very tall, straight-boled tree and has branches low on the trunk, it is not often selected as a timber tree. On the other hand, it is locally used and, like other pines, increasingly for firewood by the growing rural population. It may be used for fence posts, boxes, furniture, toll handles, and other woodware and, mixed with other pine wood, wood chips glued and compressed to particleboard. It is virtually unknown in horticulture despite the fact that it is one of the most strikingly beautiful pines, with perhaps the longest needles in the entire genus, large cones and a deep red-brown bark.

This species has been recorded from several protected areas; it is also present in secondary forests following logging and other activities.

Cultivars: -

References

Farjon, A. (2010). A Handbook of the World's Conifers. Koninklijke Brill, Leiden.
Eckenwalder, J.E. (2009) Conifers of the World: The Complete Reference. Timber Press, Portland.
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources. Cambridge, UK /Gland, Switzerland

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