0099-024 | Arboretum

overallbenefitsPICO510Park or other vaca

Pinyon Nut Pine

Catalogue A#0099-024 PZ8

GPS 45D 43' 56" N / 108D 37' 15" W

0099-024

Pinus edulis

Family: Pinaceae

Origin: Dry regions from Utah south

Common name: Pinyon Nut Pine,Two-needle Pinyon

Location: Directly behind Plant Select garden

Number in accession: 2 (3 died)

This 10 inch Pinyon pine provides overall benefits of: $43 every year.

FACTS

The pinyon or piñon pine group grows in the southwestern United States, especially in New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah. The trees yield edible nuts, which are a staple of the Native Americans, and still widely eaten as a snack and as an ingredient in New Mexican cuisine. The name comes from the Spanish pino piñonero, a name used for both the American varieties and the stone pine common in Spain, which also produces edible pine nuts typical of Mediterranean cuisine. Harvesting techniques of the prehistoric Indians are still being used to today to collect the pinyon seeds for personal use or for commercialization. The pinyon nut or seed is high in fats and calories.

Pinus edulis
Pinus edulis Engelm.
Colorado Pinyon Pine, Colorado Pinyon, Pinyon Pine, Pinyon, Two-needle Pine, Two-needle Pinyon, Two-leaf Pinyon, Nut Pine, Pino Dulce
Pinaceae (Pine Family)
Synonym(s): Pinus cembroides var. edulis
USDA Symbol: pied
USDA Native Status: L48 (N)
Two-needle pine or pinyon pine is a 10-30 ft., picturesque, gnarled evergreen with a compact, globose crown. Curving, dark-green needles occur in twos.
The edible seeds, known as pinyon nuts, Indian nuts, pine nuts, and pinones (Spanish), are a wild, commercial nut crop. Eaten raw, roasted, and in candies, they were once a staple food of southwestern Indians. Pinyon ranks first among the native nut trees of the United States that are not also cultivated. Every autumn, local residents, especially Navajo Indians and Spanish-Americans, harvest quantities for the local and gourmet markets. However, most of these oily seeds are promptly devoured by pinyon jays, wild turkeys, woodrats or packrats, bears, deer, and other wildlife. Small pinyons are popular Christmas trees. This species is the most common tree on the south rim of Grand Canyon National Park.
The species name edulis describes the edible large seeds.