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| ## two-needle pinyon {#two-needle-pinyon .Title-Header}               |
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| *Pinus edulis* Engelm.                                                |
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| Plant Symbol = PIED                                                   |
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Contributed by: USDA NRCS National Plant Data Center & the Biota of
North America Program

### ![](media/image2.jpeg){width="2.8048611111111112in" height="3.4875in"}

## Alternate Names 

Pinyon, common pinyon, New Mexico pinyon, Colorado pinyon, mesa pinyon,
two-leaf pinyon, nut pine, twoneedle pinyon. Spanish spellings are piñon
and piñón.

## Uses

The edible nuts of pinyon and are in demand because of their delicate
flavor and are probably the most commercially valuable product of the
species. Pinyon ranks first among the native nut trees that are not also
cultivated. The nuts are commonly sold and eaten after roasting in the
shell, but small quantities are sold raw. They were once a staple food
of Southwestern Indians. Local residents now harvest quantities for the
local and gourmet market, but they are in competition with many wild
animals that also seek the nuts as food.

Pinyon nuts are a preferred food for turkeys, pinyon jays, woodrats,
bears, and other wildlife, and they are a common food for deer,
particularly during harsh winters with deep snows. Pinyon-juniper
woodlands provide habitat for a varied wildlife population, including
mule deer, white-tailed deer, elk, desert cottontail, mountain
cottontail, and wild turkey.

Poor growth form and small size of two-needle pinyon has limited its use
for sawn products. Specialized woodworking shops use the wood for
novelties, and small sawmills produce mine timbers and railroad ties.
Two-needle pinyon has been used for pulping in the Southwest, but only
to alleviate shortages of normally used mill-residue chips and pulpwood
of other species. It has been widely used for fuel since the pitchy wood
has a higher heat value than any of its associates except the oaks and
burns with a pleasing aroma. It is also occasionally processed for
charcoal.

Pinyons have been cut for private and commercial use for Christmas
trees. These beautiful little trees are slow growing but should be more
widely used for ornamental purposes. Two-needle pinyon is the state tree
of New Mexico.

## Status

Please consult the PLANTS Web site and your State Department of Natural
Resources for this plant's current status, such as, state noxious status
and wetland indicator values.

## Description

*General*: Pine Family (Pinaceae). Native shrubs or trees growing
5-12(-21) meters tall, with a strongly tapering trunk, single-stemmed
and tallest at higher elevations, multi-stemmed, bushy and sprawling on
lower sites, the crown usually compact, rounded and spreading. Bark is
reddish-brown, shallowly and irregularly furrowed. Needles are
evergreen, 2 per bundle, less commonly 1 or 3, 2-4 cm long, upcurved,
yellow-green to blue-green, mostly 2-3-sided, all surfaces with pale
stomatal bands, the margins smooth or finely toothed. Seed cones about
(3.5) 4(5) cm long at maturity, ovoid before opening, depressed-ovoid to
nearly globose when open, short-stalked to nearly sessile. Seeds mostly
ellipsoid to obovoid 10-15 mm long, light brown, wingless. The seeds
rest in a deep depression on each cone scale and a flap of tissue holds
them in place, so the seeds are readily available to birds. The common
name represents a species of pinyon pine producing two needles per
bundle. The Spanish "piñon" refers to the large seed (pine in Spanish is
"pino").

*Variation within the species*: the California outlier of two-needle
pinyon has been considered a distinct species, California Pine (*Pinus
californiarum*) (Bailey 1987), or a population of 2-needled trees of
single-leaf pinyon (*Pinus monophylla var. californiarum*). *Pinus*
*edulis* var. *fallax* is seen by some to combine features of *P.
edulis* and *P. monophylla* -- but it has most recently been treated as
part of other species (*P. californiarum* subsp. *fallax*; *P.
monophylla* var. *fallax*). The differences in opinion regarding these
species of pinyon pine are further reflected in the observation that
even the typical form of *P. edulis* has been treated as a variety of
both *P. monophylla* and *P. cembroides*. Naturally occurring hybrids
have been reported between two-needle pinyon and single-leaf pinyon in
several areas.

## Distribution

Southwestern United States, in southern California (rare), the
intermountain region (Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico), to
western Oklahoma (rare) and western Texas, and south into Chihuahua,
Mexico. For current distribution, please consult the Plant Profile page
for this species on the PLANTS Web site.

## Establishment

*Adaptation*: Dry mountain slopes, mesas, plateaus, growing scattered in
open woodlands at 1200-2450 (-2700) meters elevation, in pure stands, or
commonly mixed with one or more of several species of juniper.
Two-needle pinyon is one of the most slow-growing and drought-resistant
species of pines, requiring only 12-18 inches of rainfall a year, but it
grows best on the higher, wetter sites, just below the zone of ponderosa
pine.

*Planting*: Trees may begin producing cones when 25 years of age but
produce significant quantities of seed only after reaching 75-100 years
old. Good seed crops occur every 4 to 7 years (on average) or more
frequently on better sites, and cone bearing tends to be synchronous
over large geographical areas. Germination is generally above 80%.

A relationship of mutual benefit exists between two-needle pinyon and
four species of corvid birds: Clark's nutcracker, Steller's jay, scrub
jay, and pinyon jay. These birds are the primary agents of dispersal of
this pine, which provides a large portion of their diet and subsistence,
but only the scrub jay and pinyon jay cache seeds in the pinyon-juniper
zone and are responsible for its regeneration.

Seed germination and establishment of the two-needle pinyon are best in
the shade of trees or shrubs and probably depend on an adequate moisture
supply during the first summer. Growth through all stages is extremely
slow. Dominant trees in a stand are often 400 years old, and individuals
800-1000 years old have been found.

## Management

Grazing pressure by sheep and goats greatly reduces the regenerative
capacity of the two-needle pinyon, and huge areas of pinyon-juniper
woodlands have been extensively cattle-grazed. Range improvement
practices to increase forage for wildlife and livestock have removed the
trees over large areas. Woodland watersheds also have been mechanically
cleared or chemically treated in the past, but future treatments may be
limited to specific areas, because the possibility of generally
increasing water yield does not appear promising.

Compared to pinyon pines, junipers have deeper root penetration and
drought resistance and will dominate regeneration for up to 70 years
after severe disturbance at a site. If small junipers and pines survive
a less severe disturbance, the site may be naturally reforested after
2-3 decades.

## Cultivars, Improved and Selected Materials (and area of origin)

These plant materials are readily available from commercial sources.
Contact your local Natural Resources Conservation Service (formerly Soil
Conservation Service) office for more information. Look in the phone
book under "United States Government." The Natural Resources
Conservation Service will be listed under the subheading "Department of
Agriculture."

## References

Bailey, D.K. 1987. *A study of Pinus subsection Cembroides 1: The
single-needle pinyons of the Californias and the Great Basin*. Notes
Roy. Bot. Gard. Edinburgh 44(2):275-310.

Kral, R. 1993. *Pinus*. Pp. 373-398, IN: *Flora of North America, north
of Mexico*. Vol. 2, *Pteridophytes and Gymnosperms*. Oxford Univ. Press,
New York.
\<http://hua.huh.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/Flora/flora.pl?FLORA_ID=12395\>

Ronco, F.P., Jr. 1990. *Pinus edulis*. Pp. 327-337, IN: R.M. Burns and
B.H. Honkala. *Silvics of North America*. *Volume* *1*. *Conifers*. USDA
Forest Service Agric. Handbook 654, Washington, D.C.
\<http://willow.ncfes.umn.edu/silvics_manual/Table_of_contents.htm\>

## Prepared By

*Guy Nesom*

Formerly BONAP, North Carolina Botanical Garden, University of North
Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina

## Species Coordinator

### *M. Kat Anderson*

USDA, NRCS, National Plant Data Center, c/o Plant Sciences Dept., Davis,
California

Edited: 19jun02 jsp; 29may03 ahv; 060802 jsp

For more information about this and other plants, please contact your
local NRCS field office or Conservation District, and visit the PLANTS
Web site\<[http://plants.usda.gov](http://plants.usda.gov/)\> or the
Plant Materials Program Web site
\<[http://Plant-Materials.nrcs.usda.gov](http://Plant-Materials.nrcs.usda.gov/)\>

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*To file a complaint of discrimination write USDA, Director, Office of
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