Common Names

Apache pine, Arizona longleaf pine (Elmore and Janish 1976).

Taxonomic notes

Syn: Pinus latifolia Sargent 1889 (Peattie 1950); P. macrophylla Engelmann in Wislizenus 1848, non Lindley 1839; P.apacheca Lemmon 1894 (Kral 1993); P. ponderosa var. macrophylla (Engelmann) Shaw 1909; P. mayriana Sudworth 1897; P. ponderosa var. mayriana (Sudworth) Sargent 1897; P. macrophylla var. blancoi Martínez 1944; P. engelmannii var. blancoi (Martínez) Martínez 1948 (Farjon and Styles 1997).

Description

"Trees to 35 m; trunk to 0.6 m diam., straight; crown irregularly rounded, rather thin. Bark dark brown, at maturity deeply furrowed, ridges becoming yellowish, of narrow, elongate, scaly plates. Branches straight to ascending; twigs stout (1-2 cm thick), pale gray-brown, aging darker brown, rough. Buds ovoid-conic, to 2 cm, resinous; scale margins pale fringed. Leaves 3(-5) per fascicle, spreading-ascending, often drooping, forming a brush at twig tips, persisting 2 years, (20-)25-45cm x 2 mm, dull green, all surfaces with fine stomatal lines, margins coarsely serrulate, apex conic-subulate; sheath 3-4 cm, base persistent. Pollen cones cylindric, ca. 25 mm, yellow to yellow-brown. Seed cones maturing in 2 years and shedding seeds soon thereafter, not persistent, terminal, sometimes curved, often asymmetric, lance-ovoid before opening, ovoid when open, 11-14 cm, light dull brown, nearly sessile or short-stalked; apophyses rhombic, somewhat to quite elongate, strongly raised toward outer cone base, sometimes curved, strongly cross-keeled, narrowed to thick, curved, broadly triangular-based umbo, this often producing outcurved claw. Seeds obovoid; body ca. 8-9 mm, dark brown; wing to 20mm. 2n=24" (Kral 1993).

"In general appearance Pinus engelmannii much resembles P. palustris with its short-persistent, long leaves (but in this species drooping) and in its tendency to form a grass stage. It has a deep taproot as do P. palustris and P. ponderosa" (Kral 1993).

Range

USA: SE Arizona & SW New Mexico; N Mexico at 1500-2500 m, in high and dry mountain ranges, valleys, and plateaus (Elmore and Janish 1976, Kral 1993). See also Thompson et al. (1999).

Big Tree

There are two co-champions growing in Arizona: one is 32.9 m tall and 103 cm dbh, the other is 34.1 m tall and 98 cm dbh (Robert Van Pelt e-mail 4-Feb-2004).

Oldest

Dendrochronology

Ethnobotany

Observations

Seen in the northern Chiricahua and Santa Rita Mountains (Arizona), the latter in Madera Canyon.

Remarks

Ecologically very similar to P. palustris: finely adapted to fire frequencies of <5 years.

This species is a principal host for the dwarf mistletoes Arceuthobium globosum subsp. globosum, A. rubrum, A. vaginatum subsp. vaginatum, A. vaginatum subsp. cryptopodum, and A. verticilliflorum (Hawksworth and Wiens 1996).

See Also

FEIS database.