Name

Pinus oocarpa Schiede ex Schltdl., Linnaea 12: 491 (1838).
[Egg-cone pine]

Description

Habit: Trees 30-35 m tall, trunk monopodial, erect.

Bark: Thick, rough, scaly, breaking into longitudinal plates and shallow fissures, dark brown to grey-brown.

Foliage: Needles in fascicles of 4-5, usually 14-25 cm long, 0.8-1.6 mm wide; margins toothed, yellowish green; rigid to flexible. Leaf sheath up to 25 mm long, persistent, not shortening, red-brown becoming black with age.

Branchlets: Long, spreading, forming a rounded, open crown.

Winter buds: Ovoid-oblong to fusiform, terminal buds 15-25 mm long.

Cones: Solitary or in groups of 2-4, up to 35 mm long, on stout, recurved peduncles. Mature cones broadly ovate to sub-globose, bases flattened, 3-7 X 3-9 cm when opened.

Seeds: Obliquely ovoid, slightly flattened, 4-8 mm long, blackish-grey, often with black spots.

Notes

Used with success as a forestry tree in W Africa, South Africa, Brazil, Colombia and Argentina. Pinus tecunumanii has been placed in synonymy, but is now regarded as a distinct species

Natural Distribution

Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, NW Nicaragua.