Gray Pine
Conservation status
LR/lc (IUCN2.3[1])
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Division:	Pinophyta
Class:	Pinopsida
Order:	Pinales
Family:	Pinaceae
Genus:	Pinus
Subgenus:	Pinus
Species:	P. sabineana
Binomial name
Pinus sabineana Douglas ex D.Don

The Gray Pine (Pinus sabineana) is a pine endemic to California in the United States; historically and internationally, the common name has been more frequently termed Digger Pine.^[2][3] The tree typically grows to 12-15 m, but can reach 35 m in height. The needles of the Gray Pine are in fascicles (bundles) of three, distinctively pale gray-green, sparse and drooping, and grow to 20-30 cm in length. The seed cones are large and heavy, 12-35 cm in length and almost as wide as they are long. The male cones grow at the base of shoots on the lower branches. It is also known as Foothill Pine, Ghost Pine, California Foothill Pine,^[4] Bull Pine and Nut Pine.

Contents 1 Ecology 2 Nomenclature 3 References 4 Line notes

[edit] Ecology

It grows at elevations between sea level and 1200 meters, and is found throughout the state except for the most southerly counties and the eastern counties south of Lake Tahoe. It grows in rocky soil under dry conditions. It commonly occurs in association with Blue Oak Quercus douglasii,^[5] and "Oak/Gray Pine vegetation" (also known as "Oak/Foothill Pine vegetation") is used as a description of a type of habitat characteristic in California, found throughout the foothills that ring the Central Valley. In this habitat, the Gray Pine provides a sparse overstory above a canopy of oaks.

Gray Pine needles are the only known food of the caterpillars of the gelechiid moth Chionodes sabinianus.

[edit] Nomenclature

The name Digger Pine supposedly came from the observation that the Paiute foraged for its seeds by digging around the base of the tree, although it is more likely that the term was first applied to the people; "Digger Indians" was in common use in California literature from the 1800s. The historically more common name Digger Pine is still in widespread use. It is also sometimes thought of as a pinyon pine, though it does not belong to that group.

The scientific name commemorates Edward Sabine, Anglo-Irish botanist, 1788-1883. It was originally spelled sabiniana; it is no longer customary to Latinize names (to Sabinius) before forming Neo-Latin terms, and it has recently been corrected to sabineana. However the revised spelling has not yet passed into general use, and the spelling sabiniana is the one that will most often be encountered.

[edit] References

• Conifer Specialist Group (1998). Pinus sabineana. 2006. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. www.iucnredlist.org. Retrieved on 12 May 2006.
• James E. Cole. 1939. The Cone-bearing Trees of Yosemite: Digger Pine
• A. Farjon (2005). Pines: Drawings and descriptions of the genus Pinus. Brill. ISBN 90-04-13916-8
• C. Michael Hogan (2008) Blue Oak: Quercus douglasii, GlobalTwitcher.com, ed. Nicklas Stromberg
• Ludwig Beissner. 1909. Handbuch der Nadelholzkunde: Systematik, Beschreibung, Verwendung und Kultur der Ginkgoaceen, Freiland- Coniferen und Gnetaceen. Für Gärtner, Forstleute und Botaniker, Published by P. Parey, 742 pages

[edit] Line notes

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