Editing Pinus edulis

{{Short description|Species of plant}}
{{Speciesbox
| image             = Pinus edulis.jpg
| image_caption     = Colorado pinyons at [[Bryce Canyon National Park]]
| status            = LC
| status_system     = IUCN3.1
| status_ref        = <ref name="iucn status 19 November 2021">{{cite iucn |author=Farjon, A. |date=2013 |title=''Pinus edulis'' |volume=2013 |page=e.T42360A2975133 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2013-1.RLTS.T42360A2975133.en |access-date=19 November 2021}}</ref>
| status2           = {{TNCStatus}}
| status2_system    = TNC
| status2_ref       = <ref name="NatureServe">{{Cite NatureServe |date=6 December 2024 |id=2.156774 |title=''Pinus edulis'' |access-date=8 December 2024}}</ref>
| parent            = Pinus subsect. Cembroides
| display_parents   = 3
| taxon             = Pinus edulis
| authority         = [[George Engelmann|Engelm.]]
| range_map         = Pinus edulis range map 1.png
| range_map_caption = Natural range of ''Pinus edulis''
| synonyms_ref = <ref name="POWO">{{cite POWO |id=196975-2 |title=''Pinus edulis'' Engelm. |access-date=20 November 2024}}</ref>
| synonyms = {{Collapsible list | {{Species list
 | Caryopitys edulis | (Engelm.) Small
 | Pinus cembroides subsp. edulis | (Engelm.) A.E.Murray
 | Pinus cembroides var. edulis | (Engelm.) Voss
 | Pinus monophylla var. edulis | (Engelm.) M.E.Jones
}}
}}
}}

'''''Pinus edulis''''', the '''Colorado pinyon''', '''two-needle piñon''', '''pinyon pine''', or simply '''piñon''',<ref>{{cite web |url = http://www.sos.state.nm.us/KidsCorner/StateSymbols.html |title = New Mexico Secretary of State: KID'S Corner |access-date = 2009-05-09 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080501042052/http://www.sos.state.nm.us/KidsCorner/StateSymbols.html |archive-date = 2008-05-01 |url-status = dead }}</ref> is a [[pine]] in the [[pinyon pine]] group native to the [[Southwestern United States]], used for its edible [[Pine nut|pine nuts]].

== Description ==
The piñon pine (''Pinus edulis'') is a small to medium size [[tree]], reaching {{convert|10|-|20|ft|order=flip}} tall and with a trunk diameter of up to {{convert|80|cm|in}}, rarely more. Its growth is "at an almost inconceivably slow rate" growing only 1.8 meters (6 ft) in one hundred years under good conditions.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Rehorn |first=John T. |date=Winter–Spring 1997 |title=The Gift |journal=American Forests |volume=103 |issue=1 |page=28 caption}}</ref>  for an average growth of 18 millimeters (0.72 in) per year. The bark is irregularly furrowed and scaly. The [[leaves]] ('needles') are in pairs, moderately stout, {{convert|3|-|5.5|cm|in|frac=8|abbr=on}} long, and green, with [[stomata]] on both inner and outer surfaces but distinctly more on the inner surface forming a whitish band.

The [[conifer cone|cones]] are globose, {{convert|3|-|5|cm|in|frac=4|abbr=on}} long and broad when closed, green at first, ripening yellow-buff when 18–20 months old, with only a small number of thick scales, with typically 5–10 fertile scales. The cones open to {{convert|4|-|6|cm|in|frac=4|abbr=on}} broad when mature, holding the [[seed]]s on the scales after opening. The seeds are {{convert|10|-|14|mm|in|frac=16|abbr=on}} long, with a thin shell, a white [[endosperm]], and a vestigial {{convert|1|-|2|mm|in|frac=32|abbr=on}} wing.

The species intermixes with Pinus monophylla sbsp. fallax (see description under ''[[Pinus monophylla]]'') for several hundred kilometers along the Mogollon Rim of central Arizona and the Grand Canyon resulting in trees with both single- and two-needled fascicles on each branch.  The frequency of two-needled fascicles increases following wet years and decreases following dry years.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Cole |first1=Ken |last2=Fisher |first2=Jessica |last3=Arundel |first3=Samantha |last4=Canella |first4=John |last5=Swift |first5=Sandra |date=2008 |title=Geographical and climatic limits of needle types of one- and two-needled pinyon pines |journal=Journal of Biogeography |volume=35 |issue=2 |pages=357–369 |doi=10.1111/j.1365-2699.2007.01786.x |pmc=3001037 |pmid=21188300|bibcode=2008JBiog..35..257C }}</ref>  The internal anatomy of both these needle types are identical except for the number of needles in each fascicle suggesting that Little's 1968 designation <ref>{{cite journal |last1=Little |first1=Elbert |date=1968 |title=Two new pinyon varieties from Arizona |journal=Phytologia |volume=17 |pages=329–342}}</ref> of this tree as a variety of Pinus edulis is more likely than its subsequent designation as a subspecies of Pinus monophylla based entirely upon its single needle fascicle.

It is an aromatic species. Essential oil can be extracted from the trunk, limbs, needles, and seed cones. Prominent aromatic compounds from each portion of the tree include α-pinene, sabinene, β-pinene, δ-3-carene, β-phellandrene, ethyl octanoate, longifolene, and germacrene D.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Poulson A, Wilson TM, Packer C, Carlson RE, Buch RM |title=Essential oils of trunk, limbs, needles, and seed cones of Pinus edulis (Pinaceae) from Utah |journal=Phytologia |volume=102 |issue=3 |pages=200–207}}</ref>
<gallery>
File:Pinus edulis Snowpeak.jpg|Cones of ''P.&nbsp;edulis''
File:Pinon1512.jpg|Foliage
File:2012.09.14.122141 Tree Yavapai Point Grand Canyon Arizona.jpg|Trunk
</gallery>

== Taxonomy ==
{{unreferenced section|date=December 2019}}

Colorado pinyon was described by [[George Engelmann]] in 1848 from collections made near [[Santa Fe, New Mexico]] on [[Alexander William Doniphan]]'s expedition to northern Mexico in 1846 and 1847.<ref name="POWO" />
<ref>{{cite book |last1=Engelmann |first1=George |author-link1=George Engelmann |editor-last1=Wislizenus |editor-first1=F.A. |editor-link1=Friedrich Adolph Wislizenus |date=1848 |chapter=Botanical Appendix |script-chapter= |trans-chapter= |chapter-url= |chapter-url-access= |chapter-format= |title=Memoir of a Tour to Northern Mexico :Connected with Col. Doniphan's Expedition, in 1846 and 1847 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/91630#page/88 |language=en |edition=First |location=Washington, D.C. |publisher=Tippin & Streeper |page=88 |doi=10.5962/bhl.title.41509 |doi-access=free |access-date=20 November 2024}}</ref>

It is most closely related to the [[single-leaf pinyon]], which [[Hybrid (biology)|hybridises]] with it occasionally where their ranges meet in western Arizona and Utah. It is also closely related to the [[Texas pinyon]], but is separated from it by a gap of about {{convert|100|km|mi}} so does not hybridise with it.

An isolated population of trees in the [[New York Mountains]] of southeast [[California]], previously thought to be Colorado pinyons, have recently been shown to be a two-needled variant of single-leaf pinyon from chemical and genetic evidence. Occasional two-needled pinyons in northern [[Baja California]], [[Mexico]] have sometimes been referred to Colorado pinyon in the past, but are now known to be hybrids between single-leaf pinyon and [[Parry pinyon]].

==Distribution and habitat==
The range in the U.S. is in [[Colorado]], southern [[Wyoming]], eastern and central [[Utah]], northern [[Arizona]], [[New Mexico]], western [[Oklahoma]], southeastern California, and the [[Guadalupe Mountains National Park|Guadalupe Mountains]] in far western [[Texas]], as well as northern Mexico.<ref name="Moore2008">{{cite book |author1=Moore, Gerry |author2=Kershner, Bruce |author3=Craig Tufts |author4=Daniel Mathews |author5=Gil Nelson |author5-link=Gil Nelson |author6=Spellenberg, Richard |author7=Thieret, John W. |author8=Terry Purinton |author9=Block, Andrew |title=National Wildlife Federation Field Guide to Trees of North America |publisher=Sterling |location=New York |year=2008 |page=92 |isbn=978-1-4027-3875-3}}</ref> It occurs at moderate elevations of {{convert|1600|-|2400|m|abbr=on}}, rarely as low as {{convert|1400|m|ft|abbr=on}} and as high as {{convert|3000|m|ft|abbr=on}}. It is widespread and often abundant in this region, forming extensive open woodlands, usually mixed with [[juniper]]s in the [[pinyon-juniper woodland]] [[plant community]]. The Colorado pinyon (piñon) grows as the dominant species on 4.8 million acres ({{convert|19,000|km2|sqmi|abbr=on|disp=or}}) in Colorado, making up 22% of the state's forests. The Colorado pinyon has cultural meaning to agriculture, as strong piñon wood "plow heads" were used to break soil for crop planting at the state's earliest known agricultural settlements.

There is one known example of a Colorado pinyon growing amongst Engelmann spruce (''[[Picea engelmannii]]'') and limber pine (''[[Pinus flexilis]]'') at nearly {{convert|3170|m|abbr=on}} on [[Kendrick Peak]] in the Kaibab National Forest of northern Arizona.

==Ecology==
The seeds are dispersed by the [[pinyon jay]], which plucks them out of the open cones. The jay, which uses the seeds as a food resource,<ref name=Knopf/> 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. The seeds are also eaten by wild turkey, [[Montezuma quail]], and various mammals.<ref name=Peattie>{{cite book |last=Peattie |first=Donald Culross |author-link=Donald C. Peattie |title=A Natural History of Western Trees |year=1953 |publisher=[[Bonanza Books]] |location=New York |pages=68–69}}</ref>

==Uses==
The [[edible seeds]],<ref name=Knopf>{{cite book |last=Whitney |first=Stephen |title=Western Forests (The Audubon Society Nature Guides) |date=1985 |publisher=Knopf |location=New York |isbn=0-394-73127-1 |page=[https://archive.org/details/westernforests00whit/page/414 414] |url=https://archive.org/details/westernforests00whit/page/414 }}</ref> [[pine nut]]s, are extensively collected throughout its range; in many areas, the seed harvest rights are owned by [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Native American]] tribes, for whom the species is of immense cultural and economic importance.{{citation needed|date=December 2019}}<ref>{{Cite web|last=Fischer|first=Karen|date=December 6, 2021|title=In New Mexico, Money Grows on Trees|url=https://www.eater.com/22812750/picking-selling-business-pinon-nuts-harvest-new-mexico-navajo-nation|access-date=December 6, 2021|website=[[Eater (website)|Eater]]}}</ref> They can be stored for a year when unshelled.<ref name=Peattie/>

Archaeologist [[Harold S. Gladwin]] described [[pit-house]]s constructed by southwestern Native Americans {{circa}}&nbsp;400–900&nbsp;CE; these were fortified with posts made from Pinyon trunks and coated with mud.<ref>{{cite book |last=Peattie |first=Donald Culross |author-link=Donald C. Peattie |title=A Natural History of Western Trees |year=1953 |publisher=[[Bonanza Books]] |location=New York |page=70}}</ref>

Colorado pinyon is also occasionally planted as an ornamental tree and sometimes used as a [[Christmas tree]].

== In culture ==
The piñon pine (''Pinus edulis'') is the [[List of U.S. state trees|state tree]] of [[New Mexico]].

==See also==
*[[Habitat fragmentation]]

==References==
{{Notelist}}
{{Reflist}}
*Ronald M. Lanner, 1981. ''The Piñon Pine: A Natural and Cultural History''. University of Nevada Press. {{ISBN|0-87417-066-4}}.
*<sup>12</sup>Schellbach, Louis III, 1933. ''Indian Use of the Pinyon Pine in the Grand Canyon Region''. Grand Canyon National Park. [http://npshistory.com/nature_notes/grca/vol8-9c.htm vol8-9c.htm. 14-Oct-2011].

==External links==
*{{Commons category-inline|Pinus edulis|''Pinus edulis''}}
*{{Wikispecies-inline|Pinus edulis|''Pinus edulis''}}
*[http://www.conifers.org/pi/pin/edulis.htm Gymnosperm Database: ''Pinus edulis'']

{{Nuts}}

{{Taxonbar|from=Q133096}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Pinus|edulis]]
[[Category:Flora of the South-Central United States]]
[[Category:Flora of Arizona]]
[[Category:Flora of California]]
[[Category:Flora of Colorado]]
[[Category:Flora of Oklahoma]]
[[Category:Flora of Utah]]
[[Category:Flora of Wyoming]]
[[Category:Edible nuts and seeds]]
[[Category:Symbols of New Mexico]]
[[Category:Taxa named by George Engelmann]]
[[Category:Trees of Northern America]]