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pinyon

Single-leaf pinyon 

showing single leaves and immature cones

Toiyabe

Piñon Pine

Navajo Name: Chá'oł

’Neeshch’íí, “piñon seeds”; Atlish, “piñon butter”; Deetsiin, “piñon logs”; Deetsiin bijeeh, “piñon gum”

Family Taxon Genus
Pinaceae Pinus edulis Pinus L

Classification: Pinus L has 75 species and 70 accepted taxa overall

Species: 

Description:

According to the species account from USDA Forest Service Fire Effects Information System (FEIS), Mature singleleaf pinyon is usually found in open woodlands (Lanner 1999; Meeuwig et. al. 1990:380-384). It is a short tree (6-12 m). Because of a lack of self-pruning, it grows to a rounded to flat-topped crown with multiple, upswept branches. It is sometimes multi-stemmed from simultaneous establishment from seed caches (Tomback and Linhart 1990: 185-219). The bark is thin (1-2 cm) and smooth on young trees and grows up to an inch thick with age (Graves 1917). The wood is soft and not resinous (Perry 1991). Singleleaf pinyon has an extensive lateral root system. Therefore it can penetrate open areas between tree canopies and extract water and nutrients. This helps it maintain a seasonally stable xylem water potential and thereby to endure drought better than the associated shrubs (Evans 1988). 

Singleleaf pinyon needles are long-lived (5-12 years) (Graves 1917; McCune 1988). This "evergreenness," allows the tree to conserve nutrients and take advantage of short favorable conditions within a generally unfavorable landscape (McCune 1988: 353-368). The needles have an allelopathic effect on the germination and growth of herbaceous plants (Everett 1987: 152-157; Wilt et. al. 1988: 228-231). 

Singleleaf pinyon trees are long-lived. Where protected from fires, large trees can live 350 years or more (Everett et. al. 1986). Dominant pinyons are often 400 years old and have been known to reach 800 to 1000 years (Keeley and Zedler 1998; Ronco 1987). 

Distribution:

Colorado pinyon extend through the southwestern United States and Colorado Plateau, reaching to the eastern rim of the Great Basin (Peet 1988). It is abundant in Utah, Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico (Peet 1988), and its range extends to southern Wyoming, eastern Nevada and California, western Oklahoma, the Trans-Pecos region of Texas, and northern Mexico (Little 1971; Peet 1988). Colorado pinyon occurrence is generally rare or localized on the edges of its distribution (Little 1971).

Pinyon-juniper woodlands cover more than 55.6 million acres in the western U.S. (Mitchell and Roberts 1999). Singleleaf pinyon has a large area of distribution which results in a large degree of genetic variation (Lanner 1975). It is the dominant tree species in the mountains of the Great Basin. It extends from southern Idaho, western Utah and northwestern Arizona, through most of Nevada and eastern and central California to northern Baja California (Lanner 1975; Little 1971; Meeuwig et. al. 1990:380-384). It is also found in the Mojave Desert borderlands of southern California and in small, fragmented populations in a belt across Arizona south of the Mogollon Rim into southwestern New Mexico (Lanner 1981; 1983). 

The distribution of singleleaf pinyon has undergone many changes in both prehistoric and historic times (Chambers et. al. 1999:29-34), and  any assessment of pinyon and juniper woodland distribution is only a snapshot of a woodland in motion (Everett 1985: 53-62). Historic changes in distribution are well documented (Gordon et. al. 1992; Richardson and Bond 1991: 639-668; Tausch and Nowak 1999: 71-77; Yorks et. al. 1994:359-364). The evolutionary distribution of pinyon may provide information helpful in understanding climate change(Betancourt 1987, 1991; Ernst and Pieper 1996:14-16).

Ceremonies: War Chant, War Dance, Mountain Chant, Witch Chant, Night Chant, Lightning Chant, Shooting Chant, Evil Way,   

Piñon Pine is used to make medicine or equipment in almost every Navajo ceremony: to build ceremonial hogans and corals in the Mountain Chant and Night Chant, piñon charcoal is preferred for the black pigment in sand painting and piñon pitch is used in the ritual necessary after the death of a relative or friend (Mayes and Lacy 1989:79)

Ritual Use:

Medicine: 

Food: 

Fuel

Other Uses: 

References: