Pinus durangensis

Pinus durangensis, the Durango pine or pino real is a pine tree species endemic to the Sierra Madre Occidental mountain range of north-western Mexico.

Pinus durangensis
Conservation status
Near Threatened  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Gymnospermae
Division:	Pinophyta
Class:	Pinopsida
Order:	Pinales
Family:	Pinaceae
Genus:	Pinus
Subgenus:	P. subg. Pinus
Section:	P. sect. Trifoliae
Subsection:	P. subsect. Ponderosae
Species:	P. durangensis
Binomial name
Pinus durangensis Martínez
Natural range of Pinus durangensis

This species is related to Pinus ponderosa (Ponderosa pine), and included in the same subsection Ponderosae.

Distribution

The tree is found from Chihuahua and Sonora, southwards through Durango and Jalisco, to Michoacán. It is a moderately high altitude species, growing at 1,500–2,800 metres (4,900–9,200 ft).

Description

Pinus durangensis is an evergreen tree reaching 25–40 metres (82–131 ft) in height, with a trunk up to 1 metre (3.3 ft) in diameter and a broad, rounded crown. The bark is thick, dark gray-brown, and scaly or fissured.^[2]

The leaves are needle-like, dark green, five to seven, rarely eight^[3] per fascicle (mostly six, the high regularly occurring number in the genus), 14–24 cm long and 0.7-1.1 mm wide, the persistent fascicle sheath 1.5–3 cm long.^[2]

The cones are ovoid, 5–9 cm long, green ripening brown, opening when mature in spring to 5–6 cm broad. The seeds are winged, 5–6 mm long with a 1.5-2.5 cm wing. Pollination is in late spring, with the cones maturing 20–22 months after.