Pinus cembroides

Scientific name: Pinus cembroides  Zuccarini  1832

Synonyms:Pinus llaveana Schiede ex Schltdl., Pinus osteosperma Engelm.

Common names: Mexican pinyon, Mexican nut pine, Pinyon pine, Pino piñonero (Spanish)

Description

Tree to 15(-20) m tall, with trunk to 0.5(-1) m in diameter, often forking repeatedly. Bark dark brown to blackish brown, broken into irregular, low scaly plates by shallow furrows. Crown dense and egg-shaped when young, opening and becoming very wide spreading with age, with numerous upwardly angled branches sparsely clothed with foliage. Twigs reddish brown, hairless, graying with age. Buds 5-8(-12) mm long, variably resinous. Needles in bundles of two to four (or five), sticking together at first, each needle (2-)3-5(-6) cm long, gently curved and stiff or a little flexible, lasting 3-5(-7) years, dull dark green or yellowish green to grayish green. Individual needles with lines of stomates on both the inner and outer faces, an undivided midvein, and (one or) two resin canals visible beneath the epidermis of the outer face. Sheath 4-7 mm long curling back and persisting for a time before falling. Pollen cones 5-10 mm long, straw colored. Seed cones(2-)3-5 cm long, nearly spherical to broadly cone-shaped, with 20-40(-50) seed scales, yellowish green to purplish before maturity, ripening yellowish brown to light reddish brown, opening widely to release the seeds and then falling with the 2-5(-8) mm long stalk. Seed scales paddle-shaped, with deep pockets for the seeds extending almost the whole length, the exposed face diamond-shaped and rising in a shallow pyramid to a diamond-shaped, prickly umbo. Seed body (10-)12-14 mm long, the shell 0.5-1.1 mm thick, the rudimentary wing remaining attached to the seed scale.

On either side of the Meseta Central of Mexico, from trans-Pecos Texas and northeastern Sonora south to southeastern Puebla (Mexico). Forming pure stands or mixed with other small trees in an open pinyon-juniper-oak woodland on dry slopes with thin, rocky soils between desert scrub and montane pine-oak forest; (700-)1,700-2,700(-3,000) m.

Conservation Status

Red List Category & Criteria: Least Concern

(A very widespread species, mainly in Mexico but extending into the USA in three states. Its wide distribution and abundance indicate an assessment of Least Concern)

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

Copyright © Aljos Farjon, James E. Eckenwalder, IUCN, Conifers Garden. All rights reserved.

Rootstock: Pinus wallichiana