Pinus strobiformis

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Pinus strobiformis
Pinus strobiformis at the New York Botanical Garden.jpg
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Gymnospermae
Division: Pinophyta
Class: Pinopsida
Order: Pinales
Family: Pinaceae
Genus: Pinus
Subgenus: P. subg. Strobus
Section: P. sect. Quinquefoliae
Subsection: P. subsect. Strobus
Species:
P. strobiformis
Binomial name
Pinus strobiformis
Pinus strobiformis range map.jpg
Natural range (green), with the closely related Pinus stylesii (orange), and Pinus reflexa (blue)

Pinus strobiformis, commonly known as southwestern white pine, Mexican white pine or Chihuahua white pine, is a medium-sized white pine tree whose native habitat is in southwestern United States and Mexico. It is typically a high-elevation pine growing mixed with other conifers (a montane forest).

Contents

Description

Pinus strobiformis, a member of the white pine group, Pinus subgenus Strobus , is a straight, slender tree growing to 100 ft (30 m) tall and 3 ft (1 m) in diameter. The bark is smooth and silvery-gray on young trees, aging to furrowed and red-brown or dark gray-brown. The branches are spreading and ascending. Twigs are slender, pale red-brown, aging to smooth gray or gray-brown. Buds are ellipsoid, red-brown, and resinous. Leaves (needles) are five per bundle (fascicle), sometimes four, spreading to ascending-upcurved, 1.5 to 3.5 in (4–9 cm) long (rarely up to 4 in), 0.6-1.0 mm in diameter, straight, slightly twisted, pliant, dark green to blue-green, and persist 3–5 years. The upper surface ('adaxial' - facing toward the stem of the plant) is conspicuously whitened by narrow stomatal lines. The lower surfaces ('abaxial' - facing away from the stem of the plant) are without evident stomatal lines. The margins are sharp, razorlike and entire to finely serrulate, apex narrowly acute to short-subulate. Each fascicle has a deciduous sheath 0.5 to 0.75 in (1.5-2.0 cm) long which is shed early.

The cones are very large, 6 to 20 in (16–50 cm) long and 3.5 to 4.5 in (9–11 cm) broad, and have scales with a very characteristic prolonged and often recurved or S-shaped apex. The seeds are large, and with a very short wing; they are dispersed mainly by birds, particularly the Mexican jay. It is a very drought tolerant tree but greater populations grow on moist and cool places living in association with Pinus hartwegii . [2]

Distribution

The tree can natively be found in mountainous areas in Arizona, southwest Colorado, New Mexico, and western Texas. Most of the native pines are in Mexico, in the Sierra Madre Occidental mountains of northern Mexico, from a short distance south of the US–Mexico border south through Chihuahua and Durango to Jalisco. [3] The pine rarely appears in pure strands, but grows along with other native conifers, such as limber pine, ponderosa pine, blue spruce, aspen, white fir, Douglas fir, and Engelmann spruce.

Uses

The southwestern white pine can be grown as a Christmas tree, windbreak tree, or an ornamental tree. It is popular as a replacement in drier areas for the eastern white pine. It can be used in cabinet making, but it is poor as a lumber tree. [3] The seeds were used as a food by Native Americans in the present day southwestern United States. [4]

Related Research Articles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Douglas fir</span> Species of 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Western white pine</span> Pine tree found in North America

Western white pine, also called silver pine and California mountain pine, is a species of pine in the family Pinaceae. It occurs in mountain ranges of northwestern North America and is the state tree of Idaho.

<i>Pinus nigra</i> Species of conifer

Pinus nigra, the Austrian pine or black pine, is a moderately variable species of pine, occurring across Southern Europe from the Iberian Peninsula to the eastern Mediterranean, on the Anatolian peninsula of Turkey, Corsica and Cyprus, as well as Crimea and in the high mountains of Northwest Africa.

<i>Pinus wallichiana</i> Species of conifer

Pinus wallichiana is a coniferous evergreen tree native to the Himalaya, Karakoram and Hindu Kush mountains, from eastern Afghanistan east across northern Pakistan and north west India to Yunnan in southwest China. It grows in mountain valleys at altitudes of 1800–4300 m, reaching 30–50 m (98–164 ft) in height. It favours a temperate climate with dry winters and wet summers. In Pashto, it is known as Nishtar.

<i>Pinus ponderosa</i> Species of large pine tree in North America

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.

<i>Abies concolor</i> Species of conifer tree

Abies concolor, the white fir, concolor fir, or Colorado fir, is a coniferous tree in the pine family Pinaceae. This tree is native to the mountains of western North America, including the Cascade Range and southern Rocky Mountains, and into the isolated mountain ranges of southern Arizona, New Mexico, and Northern Mexico. It naturally occurs at elevations between 900 and 3,400 metres.

<i>Pinus johannis</i> Species of conifer

Pinus johannis, the Johann's pine, is a pine in the pinyon pine group, native to North America. The range extends from southeast Arizona and southwest New Mexico, United States, south in Mexico along the Sierra Madre Occidental and the Sierra Madre Oriental to southern Zacatecas and San Luis Potosí. It occurs at moderate to high altitudes, from 1,600–3,000 metres (5,200–9,800 ft), in cool, dry climate conditions.

<i>Pinus roxburghii</i> Species of conifer

Pinus roxburghii, commonly known as chir pine or longleaf Indian pine, is a species of pine tree native to the Himalayas. It was named after William Roxburgh.

<i>Pinus ayacahuite</i> Species of conifer

Pinus ayacahuite, also called ayacahuite pine and Mexican white pine, is a species of pine native to the mountains of southern Mexico and western Central America, in the Sierra Madre del Sur mountains and the eastern end of the Eje Volcánico Transversal, between 14° and 21°N latitude in the Mexican states of Guerrero, Oaxaca, Puebla, Veracruz and Chiapas, and in Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras. It grows on relatively moist areas with summer rainfalls, however specimens from its eastern and southern distribution live under really wet conditions; it needs full sun and well drained soils. Its temperature needs fluctuate between 19 and 10 °C on average a year. This tree accepts from subtropical to cool climate.

<i>Pinus monophylla</i> Pine tree found in North America

Pinus monophylla, the single-leaf pinyon, is a pine in the pinyon pine group, native to North America. The range is in southernmost Idaho, western Utah, Arizona, southwest New Mexico, Nevada, eastern and southern California and northern Baja California.

<i>Tsuga heterophylla</i> Species of conifer

Tsuga heterophylla, the western hemlock or western hemlock-spruce, is a species of hemlock native to the west coast of North America, with its northwestern limit on the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska, and its southeastern limit in northern Sonoma County, California. The Latin species name means 'variable leaves'.

<i>Picea glauca</i> Species of conifer

Picea glauca, the white spruce, is a species of spruce native to the northern temperate and boreal forests in the United state of North and South, east, and west America. Picea glauca is native from central Alaska all through the east, across western and southern/central Canada to the Avalon Peninsula in Newfoundland, and south to Montana, North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Upstate New York and Vermont, along with the mountainous and immediate coastal portions of New Hampshire and Maine, where temperatures are just barely cool and moist enough to support it. There is also an isolated population in the Black Hills of South Dakota and Wyoming. It is also known as Canadian spruce, skunk spruce, cat spruce, Black Hills spruce, western white spruce, Alberta white spruce, and Porsild spruce.

<i>Picea engelmannii</i> Species of North American spruce tree

Picea engelmannii, with the common names Engelmann spruce, white spruce, mountain spruce, and silver spruce, is a species of spruce native to western North America. It is mostly a high-elevation mountain tree but also appears in watered canyons.

Pinus squamata, the Qiaojia pine or southern lacebark pine, is a critically endangered pine native to a single locality consisting of about 20 trees in Qiaojia County, northeast Yunnan, China, at about 2,200 m (7,200 ft) elevation.

<i>Pinus hartwegii</i> Species of conifer

Pinus hartwegii, Hartweg's pine, the Mexican mountain pine, or pino de las alturas, is a pine native to the mountains of Mexico and Central America east to Honduras. It is named after Karl Theodor Hartweg, who described it in 1838.

<i>Pinus durangensis</i> Species of conifer

Pinus durangensis, the Durango pine, is a pine tree species endemic to the Sierra Madre Occidental mountain range of north-western Mexico.

<i>Pinus maximartinezii</i> Species of conifer

Pinus maximartinezii, called Martinez pinyon, big-cone pinyon or maxipiñon, is a pine in the pinyon pine group, native to west-central Mexico.

<i>Pinus herrerae</i> Species of conifer

Pinus herrerae, Herrera's pine, is a species of conifer in the family Pinaceae. It is found only in Mexico. It is a straight trunked tree, 30–35 m tall and 75–100 cm dbh.

References

  1. Farjon, A. (2013). "Pinus strobiformis". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2013: e.T42416A2978637. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2013-1.RLTS.T42416A2978637.en . Retrieved 20 November 2021.
  2. "Southwestern White Pine (Pinus strobiformis)". Colorado State/Denver County Extension Master Gardener. 2010. Retrieved 17 July 2013.
  3. 1 2 "Pinus strobiformis". Fire Effects Information System. USDA Forest Service. Retrieved 25 July 2013.
  4. Whitney, Stephen (1985). Western Forests (The Audubon Society Nature Guides). New York: Knopf. p.  356. ISBN   0-394-73127-1.