Pinus sabiniana | |
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Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Gymnospermae |
Division: | Pinophyta |
Class: | Pinopsida |
Order: | Pinales |
Family: | Pinaceae |
Genus: | Pinus |
Subgenus: | P. subg. Pinus |
Section: | P. sect. Trifoliae |
Subsection: | P. subsect. Ponderosae |
Species: | P. sabiniana |
Binomial name | |
Pinus sabiniana | |
Pinus sabiniana (sometimes spelled P. sabineana), with vernacular names including towani pine, foothill pine, gray pine, bull pine, and digger pine, [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] is a pine endemic to California in the United States. [7] [8] Some sources discourage using the name "digger pine," considering it pejorative [3] [4] ("digger" was a slur commonly used to refer to Indigenous Americans in the Great Basin and California). [9]
The Pinus sabiniana tree typically grows to 36–45 feet (11–14 m), but can reach 105 feet (32 m) feet in height. The needles of the pine are in fascicles (bundles) of three, distinctively pale gray-green, sparse and drooping, and grow to 20–30 cm (8–12 inches) in length. The seed cones are large and heavy, 12–35 cm (4+3⁄4–13+3⁄4 inches) in length and almost as wide as they are long. [5] [3] [10] When fresh, they weigh from 0.3 to 0.7 kilograms (0.7 to 1.5 lb), rarely over 1 kilogram (2.2 lb). [11] The male cones grow at the base of shoots on the lower branches. [5] [3] [10]
Pinus sabiniana grows at elevations between sea level and 1,200 metres (4,000 ft) and is common in the northern and interior portions of the California Floristic Province. It is found throughout the Sierra Nevada and Coast Ranges foothills that ring the Central, San Joaquin and interior valleys; the Transverse and Peninsular Ranges; and Mojave Desert sky islands. [3] [10] Multiple specimens have also been found in Southern Oregon as well. [12] [13] It is adapted to long, hot, dry summers and is found in areas with an unusually wide range of precipitation: from an average of 250 mm (10 in) per year at the edge of the Mojave to 1,780 mm (70 in) in parts of the Sierra Nevada. [11] It prefers rocky, well drained soil, but also grows in serpentine soil and heavy, poorly drained clay soils. It commonly occurs in association with Quercus douglasii , [14] and "Oak/Foothill Pine vegetation" (also known as "Oak/Gray Pine vegetation") is used as a description of a type of habitat characteristic within the California chaparral and woodlands ecoregion in California, providing a sparse overstory above a canopy of the oak woodland.
Pinus sabiniana needles are the only known food of the caterpillars of the Gelechiid moth Chionodes sabinianus . Fossil evidence suggests that it has only recently become adapted to the Mediterranean climate as its closest relatives are part of the Madrean pine-oak woodlands found at higher elevations in the southwest US and Mexico. [15] Some Native American groups relied heavily on sweet pine nuts for food [16] and are thought to have contributed to the current distribution pattern, including the large gap in distribution in Tulare County. Native Americans also consumed the roots. [17]
Protein and fat nutritional value of the seed are similar to Pinus pinea seeds and figured in the local indigenous diet. [18]
Wood uses historically were determined by its particular characteristics, e.g., 0.43 mean specific gravity nearly equal to Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii); strength properties similar to ponderosa pine; Kraft pulps high in bursting with tensile strength comparable to some northern conifer pulps; and foothill stands loggable in winter, when higher-altitude species were inaccessible. However, the high amounts of resin and compression wood, the often crooked form, heavy weight, and low stand density, made it expensive otherwise to log, transport and process. Commercial value decreased by the 1960s, [18] to limited use for railroad ties, box "shook", [19] pallet stock, and chips.
It may still offer potential as windbreak shelterbelt plantings. [18]
The main turpentine constituent, heptane, an alkane hydrocarbon, at about 3 percent of needle and twig oil, [18] is unusual in botany; the only other source in nature perhaps being the Pittosporum resiniferum known as "petroleum nut" or kerosene tree.
The name digger pine supposedly came from the observation that the Paiute foraged for its seeds by digging around the base of the tree, although it is more likely that the term was first applied to the people; "Digger Indians" was in common use in California literature from the 1800s. The historically more common name digger pine is still in widespread use. The Jepson Manual advises avoiding this name as the authors believe "digger" is pejorative in origin. [20] [21] It is also sometimes thought of as a pinyon pine, though it does not belong to that group.
Language | Name |
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Achumawi | tujhalo |
Awaswas Ohlone | hireeni (pine tree); saak (pinenut) |
Chalon Ohlone | šaak (pinenut) |
Chimariko | hatcho |
Chochenyo Ohlone | saak (pinenut) |
Chukchansi Yokuts | ton' (pinenut); shaaxal' (pine sap) |
Karuk | axyúsip |
Klamath | gapga [22] |
Konkow | tä-nē’ [23] |
Maidu | towáni |
Mono | tunah |
Mutsun Ohlone | hireeni; saak (pinenut) |
Patwin | tuwa; sanank (pinenut) |
Rumsen Ohlone | xirren |
Southern Sierra Miwok | sakky |
Wappo | náyo |
Wintu | xisi (unripe pinenut); chati (ripe pinenut) |
Yana | c’ala’i [22] |
The scientific botanical name with the standard spelling sabiniana commemorates Joseph Sabine, secretary of the Horticultural Society of London. Some botanists proposed a new spelling sabineana, because they were confused with Latin grammar. The proposal has not been accepted by the relevant authorities (i.e. United States Department of Agriculture, The Jepson Manual or Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). [2] [3] [5] [24] The GRIN notes that the spelling sabiniana agrees with a provision in the Vienna Code of the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature, the governing body of botanical nomenclature. In that code, recommendation 60.2C states that personal names can be Latinized in species epithets: 'Sabine' is Latinised to sabinius, with the addition of the suffix "-anus" (pertaining to) the word becomes sabiniana (In Latin, trees are feminine, irrespective if the word ends with a masculine suffix, i.e. pinus). [24] [25] The GRIN database notes that Sabine's last name is not correctable and therefore Pinus sabiniana is the proper name for the species.
A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus Pinus of the family Pinaceae. Pinus is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. World Flora Online, created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanical Garden, accepts 187 species names of pines as current, together with more synonyms. The American Conifer Society (ACS) and the Royal Horticultural Society accept 121 species. Pines are commonly found in the Northern Hemisphere. Pine may also refer to the lumber derived from pine trees; it is one of the more extensively used types of lumber. The pine family is the largest conifer family and there are currently 818 named cultivars recognized by the ACS. It is also a well-known type of Christmas tree.
The Douglas fir is an evergreen conifer species in the pine family, Pinaceae. It is native to western North America and is also known as Douglas-fir, Douglas spruce, Oregon pine, and Columbian pine. There are three varieties: coast Douglas-fir, Rocky Mountain Douglas-fir and Mexican Douglas-fir.
Pinus albicaulis, known by the common names whitebark pine, white bark pine, white pine, pitch pine, scrub pine, and creeping pine, is a conifer tree native to the mountains of the western United States and Canada, specifically subalpine areas of the Sierra Nevada, Cascade Range, Pacific Coast Ranges, and Rocky Mountains. It shares the common name "creeping pine" with several other plants.
The Torrey pine is a rare pine species in California, United States. It is a critically endangered species growing only in coastal San Diego County, and on Santa Rosa Island, offshore from Santa Barbara in Santa Barbara County. The Torrey pine is endemic to the California coastal sage and chaparral ecoregion.
Pinus lambertiana is the tallest and most massive pine tree, and has the longest cones of any conifer. The species name lambertiana was given by the Scottish botanist David Douglas, who named the tree in honour of the English botanist, Aylmer Bourke Lambert. It is native to coastal and inland mountain areas along the Pacific coast of North America, as far north as Oregon and as far south as Baja California in Mexico.
Pinus jeffreyi, also known as Jeffrey pine, Jeffrey's pine, yellow pine and black pine, is a North American pine tree. It is mainly found in California, but also in the westernmost part of Nevada, southwestern Oregon, and northern Baja California. It is named in honor of its botanist documenter John Jeffrey.
Pinus contorta, with the common names lodgepole pine and shore pine, and also known as twisted pine, and contorta pine, is a common tree in western North America. It is common near the ocean shore and in dry montane forests to the subalpine, but is rare in lowland rain forests. Like all pines, it is an evergreen conifer.
Jack pine, also known as grey pine or scrub pine, is a North American pine.
Coulter pine, or big-cone pine, is a native of the coastal mountains of Southern California in the United States and northern Baja California in Mexico. Isolated groves are found as far north as Clearlake, California on the flanks of Mt. Konocti and Black Diamond Mines Regional Preserve. It is named after Thomas Coulter, an Irish botanist and physician. The Coulter pine produces the heaviest cone of any pine tree, up to 5 kg (11 lb) and among conifers is exceeded only by the cones of Araucaria bidwillii.
The knobcone pine, Pinus attenuata, is a tree that grows in mild climates on poor soils. It ranges from the mountains of southern Oregon to Baja California with the greatest concentration in northern California and the Oregon-California border.
Pinus ponderosa, commonly known as the ponderosa pine, bull pine, blackjack pine, western yellow-pine, or filipinus pine is a very large pine tree species of variable habitat native to mountainous regions of western North America. It is the most widely distributed pine species in North America.
Quercus douglasii, known as blue oak, is a species of oak endemic to California, common in the Coast Ranges and the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. It is California's most drought-tolerant deciduous oak, and is a dominant species in the blue oak woodland ecosystem. It is occasionally known as mountain oak and iron oak.
Cupressus arizonica, the Arizona cypress, is a North American species of tree in the cypress family Cupressaceae, native to the southwestern United States and Mexico. Populations may be scattered rather than in large, dense stands.
Cupressus pygmaea, the Mendocino cypress or pygmy cypress, is a taxon of disputed status in the genus Cupressus endemic to certain coastal terraces and coastal mountain ranges of Mendocino and Sonoma Counties in northwestern California. It is a variable tree, and closely related to Cupressus abramsiana and Cupressus goveniana, enough to sometimes be considered conspecific with them.
Aesculus californica, commonly known as the California buckeye or California horse-chestnut, is a species of buckeye native to California and southwestern Oregon.
California oak woodland is a plant community found throughout the California chaparral and woodlands ecoregion of California in the United States and northwestern Baja California in Mexico. Oak woodland is widespread at lower elevations in coastal California; in interior valleys of the Coast Ranges, Transverse Ranges and Peninsular Ranges; and in a ring around the California Central Valley grasslands. The dominant trees are oaks, interspersed with other broadleaf and coniferous trees, with an understory of grasses, herbs, geophytes, and California native plants.
The Inner Coast Ranges are a long mountain range subsystem of the California Coast Ranges, running generally north–south in western California, from Santa Barbara County north to the Klamath Mountains system.