''Pinus maximartinezii'', called Martinez pinyon, big-cone pinyon
[ or maxipiñon,]pine
A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family (biology), family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. The World Flora Online created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanic ...
in the pinyon pine
The pinyon or piñon pine group grows in southwestern North America, especially in New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah. The trees yield edible nuts, which are a staple food of Native Americans, and widely eaten as a snack and as an ingredient in ...
group, native to west-central Mexico
Mexico (Spanish language, Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a List of sovereign states, country in the southern portion of North America. It is borders of Mexico, bordered to the north by the United States; to the so ...
.
Description
It is a small tree
In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that are ...
, reaching tall and with a trunk diameter of up to . The bark is brown, thick and fissured at the base of the trunk. The leaves
A leaf ( : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, st ...
('needles') are in fascicles of five, slender, long, and deep green to blue-green, with stomata
In botany, a stoma (from Greek ''στόμα'', "mouth", plural "stomata"), also called a stomate (plural "stomates"), is a pore found in the epidermis of leaves, stems, and other organs, that controls the rate of gas exchange. The pore is b ...
confined to a bright white band on the inner surfaces. The cones are ovoid, massive, long and broad and up to weight when closed, green at first, ripening yellow-brown when 26–28 months old, with very thick, woody scales, typically 30–60 fertile scales. The scales are unusual for a pine in the soft pine group (''Pinus'' subgenus ''Strobus''); most pines in that group have flexible scales. The cones open to broad when mature. The seeds are long, with a thick shell, with a vestigial wing; the seedlings have 18–24 cotyledon
A cotyledon (; ; ; , gen. (), ) is a significant part of the embryo within the seed of a plant, and is defined as "the embryonic leaf in seed-bearing plants, one or more of which are the first to appear from a germinating seed." The numb ...
s, the highest number reported for any plant.
It differs from all other pinyon species in that it has very massive cones and large seeds. Like other pinyons, the seeds are edible; this represents a threat to the species' survival, as the majority of the seeds produced are harvested, limiting natural regeneration of the pines.
Range and habitat
The range is highly localised, confined to two small areas of the southern Sierra Madre Occidental
The Sierra Madre Occidental is a major mountain range system of the North American Cordillera, that runs northwest–southeast through northwestern and western Mexico, and along the Gulf of California. The Sierra Madre is part of the American ...
– the Sierra de Morones
The Sierra de Morones is a mountain range in west-central Mexico.
Geography
The Sierra de Morones extends north and south through the state of Zacatecas. The Sierra, together with the Sierra Fría to the east and the Sierra los Huicholes to th ...
in southern Zacatecas
, image_map = Zacatecas in Mexico (location map scheme).svg
, map_caption = State of Zacatecas within Mexico
, coordinates =
, coor_pinpoint =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type ...
, and La Muralla in Durango
Durango (), officially named Estado Libre y Soberano de Durango ( en, Free and Sovereign State of Durango; Tepehuán: ''Korian''; Nahuatl: ''Tepēhuahcān''), is one of the 31 states which make up the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico, situated in ...
. It occurs at moderate altitudes, from 1800–2400 m and 21° North latitude, in warm and temperate, dry climate conditions.
The Mexican government has declared this species endangered
An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and in ...
.
Discovery
Because of its isolation in a remote area, it escaped discovery until 1964, when the Mexican botanist Jerzy Rzedowski
Jerzy Rzedowski Rotter (born December 27, 1926) is a Mexican botanist. His focus is on Mexican floristics, taxonomy, and ecology.
Education and personal life
He was born in Lwów, Poland (now in Ukraine) to Arnold and Ernestyna (nee Rotter) Rzed ...
noticed some unusually large pine nut
Pine nuts, also called piñón (), pinoli (), pignoli or chilgoza (), are the edible seeds of pines (family Pinaceae, genus ''Pinus''). According to the Food and Agriculture Organization, only 29 species provide edible nuts, while 20 are trad ...
s (''piñones'') sold in the markets of local villages, and investigated the area to find their source.
Cultivation
It has started being cultivated recently and is a very attractive ornamental tree.
References
External links
Gymnosperm Database: ''Pinus maximartinezii''
*Farjon, A. & Styles, B. T. (1997). Pinus (Pinaceae). ''Flora Neotropica Monograph'' 75: 221–224.
Conifers Around the World: ''Pinus maximartinezii – Martínez Pinyon Pine''
{{Taxonbar, from=Q3308307
maximartinezii
Edible nuts and seeds
Endangered plants
Endemic flora of Mexico
Flora of the Sierra Madre Occidental