Pinus edulis / Pinyon Pine / Pinaceae (Pine family)

Information

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Other Names

Pinyon Pine, Singleleaf Pinyon, American pinon, American Pinon, Colorado Pinyon, Colorado pinyon, Nut Pine, Pignolia, Pinon, Piñón, Pinyon, Pinyon Pine, Rocky Mountain Pinyon, Trementina De Pinon.

Description

The pinyon pines (or piñon pines), are a group of pines, which grow in the southwestern United States and Mexico; they yield edible pinyon nuts, which were a staple of the Native Americans, and are still widely eaten. In many areas, the seed harvest rights are owned by Native American tribes, for whom the species is of immense cultural and economic importance. The seeds are also important wildlife food for several songbirds, quails, squirrels, chipmunks, black bears, and mule deer. The tree is sometimes used as a Christmas tree because of it's aroma. The fragrance of the wood, especially when burned, is unmistakable. A sticky aromatic resin is exuded from cuts in needles or stem.

Scent

A clear, fresh and uplifting smell.

Aromatic Properties

Usually used in ritual or energy work for cleaning away negative energy. Strengthening the Aura and creating a strong base to support one's overall spiritual development and evolution.

Contents

Some of the constituents of the different parts are:
Needles: high in vitamin C, Sucrose.
Inner Bark: Tannin, Quercetin, Phenol.
Resin: Limonene, Essential Oil, Terpenes.
Kernels: fatty oil.

Historical

The seed crop of pinyon pine is valuable and is used in making candies, cakes, and cookies. The seeds were a staple food in American Indian diets and were eaten raw, roasted, or ground into flour. Seed crops are erratic, depending on moisture, and Indian migrations were determined by location of seed crops. Needles were steeped for tea. The inner bark served as starvation food for American Indians.
Today incense is made from crushed cones. Indians still use the pitch as a caulking compound for watertight baskets and as glue for turquoise jewelry. The seeds of Pinyon and Juniper nourish most wildlife in these forests and beginning 2,000 years ago the Anasazi created a civilization with these trees: they built homes and fed, clothed, and warmed themselves with Pinyon Pine and Utah Juniper. And they must have, as we still do today, found the redolence of a Juniper and Pinyon Pine fire to be one of the grand pleasures of life.

Plant Description

Pinus edulis typically grows straight, drops its lower limbs, has dark, tight, fissured bark, and its foliage is open and airy. Pinus edulis leaves are about two inches long, in bundles of twos, thin, and dark green. As with other piñons, the seeds rest in a deep cone-scale declivity and upper cone scale tissue holds the seeds in place, so seeds do not readily fall out and are readily available to avian dispersers. This pine is native to the United States. It occurs at moderate altitudes from 1600-2400m.

References

Colorado Pinyon, Wikipedia

Articles

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From the Pinyon Pine Trees