Pinus teocote Schiede ex Schltdl. & Cham.

  • Authority

    Farjon, Aljos K. & Styles, Brian T. 1997. Pinus (Pinaceae). Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 75: 1-291. (Published by NYBG Press)

  • Family

    Pinaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Pinus teocote Schiede ex Schltdl. & Cham.

  • Type

    Type. Mexico. Puebla/Veracruz: Mt. Orizaba, Sep 1828, Schiede & Deppe s.n. (holotype, HAL; isotype BM).

  • Synonyms

    Pinus patula var. stricta Benth. ex Endl., Pinus besseriana Roezl, Pinus vilmoriniana var. besseriana (Roezl) Carrière, Pinus vilmoriniana Roezl, Pinus microcarpa Lamb., Pinus mulleriana Roezl, Pinus hugelii Roezl ex Carrière, Pinus teocote f. macrocarpa (Shaw) Martínez

  • Description

    Species Description - Tree, medium size, height to 20-25 m, dbh to 75 cm. Trunk monopodial, sometimes forked, straight. Bark thick, rough and scaly, forming longitudinal plates divided by deep, wide fissures, inner bark reddish brown, outer bark dark greyish brown; on young trees and branches thin, scaly, exfoliating in thin flakes, reddish brown. Branches of first order slender, spreading horizontally or curved down; branches of higher orders slender, flexible, slightly pendulous, forming an open or dense, pyramidal to rounded crown. Shoots smooth, with prominent, decurrent pulvini, orange-brown. Cataphylls subulate, curved at apex, with ciliate margins, brown, early deciduous. Vegetative buds ovoid-oblong, the terminal bud 10-15 mm long, the laterals ovoid-acute, <10 mm long, not resinous; the scales imbricate, subulate, with reflexed apex, ciliate at margins. Fascicle sheaths initially up to 20 mm long, silvery-yellow, papery, being torn by spreading leaves, in mature fascicles reduced to ca. 10 mm, persistent, dark red-brown to grey-brown. Leaves in fascicles of 3(-2-5), in dense tufts, spreading obliquely forward, persisting 2-3 years, straight or slightly curved, rigid, (7-)10-15(-18) cm X 1-1.4 mm, with serrulate margins, acute-pungent, light green. Stomata on all faces of leaves, in 7-10 lines on the convex abaxial face and 4-5 lines on each adaxial face. Leaf anatomy: Cross section triangular to transverse-triangular; hypodermis multi-layered especially in marginal areas; resin ducts 2-5, often 3, medial; stele elliptic to transverse-obovate in cross section, outer cell walls of endodermis thickened; vascular bundles 2, distinctly separate. Pollen cones crowded near the proximal end of a new shoot, subtended by scarious bracts, ovoid-oblong to cylindrical, 10-18 mm X ca. 5 mm, yellowish green, turning light brown after shedding pollen. Seed cones subterminal, commonly opposite, sometimes 1-3, on short, stout, curved peduncles which fall with the cones. Immature cones (broadly) ovoid, 8-15 mm long, purplish red, maturing in two seasons. Mature cones ovoid to ovoid-oblong when closed, slightly asymmetrical, with a broad, flattened but oblique base when opened, (3-) 4-6(-7) X 2.5-5 cm when open, often persistent. Seed scales ca. 60-100, parting except those at the base of the cone (semi-serotinous), thick woody, oblong, straight or recurved, purplish brown on the abaxial side, dark brown to purplish brown with light brown marks of seed wings on the adaxial side. Apophysis slightly raised, in some cones more or less flat, slightly more pronounced on the proximal scales on one side of the cone, transversely keeled, apical margin angular or crenate, light brown, in some cones with radial marks. Umbo dorsal, flat to blunt-pyramidal, transverse-rhombic in outline, up to 6 mm wide, with a minute, deciduous prickle. Seeds obovoid, slightly flattened, 3-5 mm long, dark grey-brown. Seed wings articulate but effective, held to the seed by two small, oblique claws, obliquely ovate-oblong, 12-18 X 6-8 mm, translucent, yellowish with a dark tinge. Number of cotyledons not observed. Note: Epicormic adventitious shoots often occur in this species.

  • Discussion

    Uses. Pinus teocote is of importance as a timber tree. Apparently due to its moderate size especially in the southern part of its range, resin production may locally count as the more important mode of exploitation.

    The type specimen of P. teocote was collected by C. J. W. Schiede and F. Deppe in September 1828 in “Mexico, ad radices et in adsensu montis Orizabae" (HAL), and described as a new species by Schlechtendal and Chamisso (1830). Bentham (1842) gave for Hartweg 442 a varietal epithet under P. patula, and Endlicher (1847) briefly characterized it with “Foliis strictis, strobilus minoribus," but the specimens clearly belong to P. teocote, not to P. patula, nor with P. greggii (Martínez, 1945, 1948).

    A number of Roezl's names belong with P. patula, and most could be lectotypified. For a discussion of Roezl’s catalogue and “new species" see under P. montezumae.

    Shaw (1909) described P. teocote var. macrocarpa with cones “considerably larger than those of the typical variety" and with leaves in fascicles of 3, 4, and 5. Martinez (1945, 1948) reduced Shaw’s variety to a forma but, at the same time, apparently excluded part of Shaw’s material in referring to a “Pinus slavae’’ of Robertson but citing Shaw’s combination in synonymy. For the material Shaw had cited from Eslava (Distrito Federal), Martínez suggested the epitheton (forma) quinquefoliata. What Shaw (1909, 1914) in fact cited under P. teocote var. macrocarpa are several collections (syntypes), two of which— Pringle 10013 and 10018—were distributed as P. eslavae (ined.) from Eslava (Shaw, 1909). Perry (1991) decided to treat this taxon and P. teocote fo. quinquefoliata Martínez (an invalidly published combination: without Latin description or reference to one other than Shaw’s var. macrocarpa) as synonyms of P. teocote and considered them occasional aberrant individuals rather than representative of distinct populations with consistently similar characters.

    Not surprisingly, this species shows considerable variation in its wide geographical range, but we agree with Perry that, at least morphologically, no character variation has been detected which enabled us to recognize any infraspecific taxa.

    Distribution and Ecology: Mexico: One of the most widely distributed Mexican pines, most abundant in central Mexico, distributed in Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León, Tamaulipas, Sinaloa, Durango, Zacatecas, San Luís Potosi, Nayarit, Aguascalientes, Jalisco, Guanajuato, Querétaro, Hidalgo, Michoacán, México, Distrito Federal, Tlaxcala, Puebla, Veracruz, Guerrero, Oaxaca, and Chiapas. Aguilar (1961) describes “Pinus teocote (fo.) guatemalensis” (not validly published, with a description in Spanish only) from Quetzaltenango and “between Huehuetenango and San Carlos Sija,” which was taken up by Critchfield and Little (1966). Perry (1991) reported that he was not able to find the species in Guatemala, and we, too, have not been able to locate specimens. Pinus teocote occurs in various habitats, most commonly in rather open forest or woodland associated with Quercus spp., on relatively dry sites with shallow soils. Its altitudinal range is (1000-) 1500-3000(-3300) nv, a few collections are recorded from 700-800 m, but these may be based on incorrect estimates. It often occupies dry ridges, sometimes on calcareous outcrops. Annual precipitation is usually moderate, 500-1000 mm, but much higher in parts of the central highlands of Chiapas, where it is growing in broad-leaved forest dominated by Liquidambar and Styrax. In the nor-then parts of its range (Durango, Nuevo León) it is reported to grow to a taller tree in favorable sites (Loock, 1950). It occurs with a number of other pines in various parts of its range, the most common of which are from north to south: P. arizonica, P. engelmannii, P. durangensis, P. leiophylla, P. montezumae, P. oocarpa, and P. patula.

    Phenology: Pollen dispersal is reported from as early as December, in Oaxaca, through March, with only a weak correlation with altitude (Critchfield, 1966b).

  • Distribution

    Mexico North America| Chiapas Mexico North America| Chihuahua Mexico North America| Distrito Federal Mexico North America| Durango Mexico North America| Guanajuato Mexico North America| Hidalgo Mexico North America| México Mexico North America| Michoacán Mexico North America| Nuevo León Mexico North America| Oaxaca Mexico North America| Puebla Mexico North America| Querétaro Mexico North America| San Luis Potosí Mexico North America| Tamaulipas Mexico North America| Veracruz Mexico North America| Zacatecas Mexico North America|