''Pinus cembroides'', also known as pinyon pine, Mexican pinyon, Mexican nut pine, and Mexican stone pine, is a

pine 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'' accepts 134 species-rank taxa (119 species and 15 nothospecies) of pines as cu ...

in the

pinyon pine The pinyon or piñon pine group grows in southwestern North America, especially in New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona, and Utah, with the single-leaf pinyon pine just reaching into southern Idaho. The trees yield edible Pine nut, nuts, which are a sta ...

group. It is a small pine growing to about with a trunk diameter of up to . It is native to western

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

. It grows in areas with low levels of rainfall and its range extends southwards from

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

and

New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...

in the United States into Mexico. It typically grows at altitudes between . The seeds are large and form part of the diet of the

Mexican jay The Mexican jay (''Aphelocoma wollweberi'') Etymology: ''Aphelocoma'', from Latinized Ancient Greek ''apheles-'' (from ἀφελής-) "simple" + Latin ''coma'' (from Greek ''kome'' κόμη) "hair", in reference to the lack of striped or banded ...

and

Abert's squirrel Abert's squirrel or the tassel-eared squirrel (''Sciurus aberti'') is a tree squirrel in the genus ''Sciurus'' native to the southern Rocky Mountains from the United States to the northern Sierra Madre Occidental of Mexico, with concentrations fo ...

. They are also collected for human consumption, being the most widely used

pine nut Pine nuts, also called piñón (), pinoli (), or pignoli, 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 traded locall ...

in Mexico.

Description

''Pinus cembroides'' is a small to medium-size

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, e.g., including only woody plants with secondary growth, only ...

, reaching tall and with a trunk diameter of up to . The bark is dark brown, thick and deeply fissured at the base of the trunk. The

leaves A leaf (: leaves) is a principal appendage of the stem of a vascular plant, usually borne laterally above ground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, stem, ...

('needles') are in mixed pairs and threes, slender, to long, and dull yellowish green, with

stoma In botany, a stoma (: stomata, from Greek language, Greek ''στόμα'', "mouth"), also called a stomate (: stomates), is a pore found in the Epidermis (botany), epidermis of leaves, stems, and other organs, that controls the rate of gas exc ...

ta on both inner and outer surfaces. The

cones In geometry, a cone is a three-dimensional figure that tapers smoothly from a flat base (typically a circle) to a point not contained in the base, called the ''apex'' or '' vertex''. A cone is formed by a set of line segments, half-lines, ...

are globose, to long and broad when closed, green at first, ripening yellow-brown when 18–20 months old, with only a small number of thick scales, with typically 5-12 fertile scales. The cones open to to broad when mature, holding the

seed In botany, a seed is a plant structure containing an embryo and stored nutrients in a protective coat called a ''testa''. More generally, the term "seed" means anything that can be Sowing, sown, which may include seed and husk or tuber. Seeds ...

s on the scales after opening. The seeds are to long, with a thick shell, a pink

endosperm The endosperm is a tissue produced inside the seeds of most of the flowering plants following double fertilization. It is triploid (meaning three chromosome sets per nucleus) in most species, which may be auxin-driven. It surrounds the Embryo#Pla ...

, and a vestigial wing.

Taxonomy

Mexican pinyon was the first

described, named by

Zuccarini Zuccarini is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * John Zuccarini (born 1947), American businessman convicted of violating the Truth in Domain Names Act * Joseph Gerhard Zuccarini Joseph Gerhard Zuccarini (10 August 1797 – 1 ...

in 1832. Many of the other pinyon pines have been treated as

varieties Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...

of it at one time or another in the past, but research in the last 10–50 years has shown that most are distinct species. Some botanists still include

Johann's pinyon ''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 Sie ...

and

Orizaba pinyon ''Pinus orizabensis'', the Orizaba pinyon, is a pine in the pinyon pine group, endemic to central Mexico. It is considered also as a sub-species of ''Pinus cembroides'' which is classified as ''Pinus cembroides'' subsp. ''orizabensis'' D.K.Baile ...

in Mexican pinyon; the former accounts for records of "Mexican pinyon" in southern

and

. Mexican pinyon is a relatively non-variable species, with constant morphology over the entire range except for the disjunct population in the

Sierra de la Laguna pine-oak forests Sierra (Spanish for "mountain range" or "mountain chain" and "saw", from Latin '' serra'') may refer to the following: Places Mountains and mountain ranges * Sierra de Juárez, a mountain range in Baja California, Mexico * Sierra de las Nieve ...

of Baja California Sur; this is generally treated as a subspecies, ''Pinus cembroides'' subsp. ''lagunae'', although some botanists treat it as a separate species, ''P. lagunae.'' This subspecies differs from the type in having slightly longer leaves, between and and longer, narrower cones, up to long.

Distribution and habitat

The range extends from westernmost

, United States (where it is restricted to the Chisos and

Davis Mountains The Davis Mountains, originally known as Limpia Mountains, are a range of mountains in West Texas, United States, located near Fort Davis, Texas, Fort Davis, after which they are named. The fort was named for then-United States Secretary of War ...

), south through much of Mexico, occurring widely along the

Sierra Madre Oriental The Sierra Madre Oriental () is a mountain range in northeastern Mexico. The Sierra Madre Oriental is part of the American Cordillera, a chain of mountain ranges (cordillera) that consists of an almost continuous sequence of mountain ranges that ...

and

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 C ...

ranges, and more rarely in the eastern

Eje Volcánico Transversal The Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt (), also known as the Transvolcanic Belt and locally as the (''Snowy Mountain Range''), is an active volcanic belt that covers central-southern Mexico. Several of its highest peaks have snow all year long, and du ...

range. It lives in areas with little rainfall, which fluctuates between . The subspecies ''

Pinus orizabensis ''Pinus orizabensis'', the Orizaba pinyon, is a pine in the pinyon pine group, endemic to central Mexico. It is considered also as a sub-species of ''Pinus cembroides'' which is classified as ''Pinus cembroides'' subsp. ''orizabensis'' D.K.Baile ...

'' (orizabensis) is found farther south in the state of

Veracruz Veracruz, formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave, is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the 32 Political divisions of Mexico, Federal Entit ...

. There is also a disjunct population in the

Sierra de la Laguna The Sierra de la Laguna is a mountain range at the southern end of the Baja California peninsula in Mexico, and is the southernmost range of the Peninsular Ranges System. It is located in La Paz Municipality, Baja California Sur, La Paz Municipa ...

of southern

Baja California Sur Baja California Sur, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California Sur, is a state in Mexico. It is the 31st and last state to be admitted, in 1974. It is also the second least populated Mexican state and the ninth-largest state by ...

. It occurs at moderate altitudes, mostly from , which some authorities consider a separate species (''P. lagunae'').

Ecology

The seeds are dispersed by the

, which plucks the seeds out of the open cones. The jay, which uses the seeds as a major food resource, stores many of the seeds for later use, and some of these stored seeds are not used and are able to grow into new trees.

also feeds on the seeds in preference to those of the

ponderosa pine ''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 t ...

Conservation

It is a common pine with a wide range and the

International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the stat ...

has rated its conservation status as being of "

least concern A least-concern species is a species that has been evaluated and categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as not being a focus of wildlife conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wil ...

Uses

The seeds are widely collected in Mexico, being the main edible

in the region. While palatable when raw, their flavor is considered to be improved when roasted.

References

External links

Photos of ''Pinus cembroides'' tree and foliage

{{Authority control Cembroides Flora of Central Mexico Flora of Northeastern Mexico Flora of Northwestern Mexico Flora of the South-Central United States Flora of Arizona Flora of Jalisco Flora of Michoacán Flora of Nayarit Flora of Veracruz Edible nuts and seeds Plants used in Native American cuisine Trees of Northern America