Description
Pinus cembroides is a small to medium-size tree, reaching 8 metres (26 ft) to 20 metres (66 ft) tall and with a trunk diameter of up to 50 centimetres (20 in). The bark is dark brown, thick and deeply fissured at the base of the trunk. The leaves ('needles') are in mixed pairs and threes, slender, 3 centimetres (1.2 in) to 6 centimetres (2.4 in) long, and dull yellowish green, with stomata on both inner and outer surfaces.
The cones are globose, 3 centimetres (1.2 in) to 4 centimetres (1.6 in) 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 4 centimetres (1.6 in) to 5 centimetres (2.0 in) broad when mature, holding the seeds on the scales after opening. The seeds are 10 millimetres (0.39 in) to 12 millimetres (0.47 in) long, with a thick shell, a pink endosperm, and a vestigial 2 millimetres (0.079 in) wing; they are dispersed by the Mexican Jay, 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.
Read more about this topic: Mexican Pinyon
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