They're really more like Charlie Brown trees, but every once in a while, we bring in a pine tree for the holidays. Our local pine, Pinus sabiniana, or gray pine, is a drought-tolerant native that typically reaches heights of 80 feet. Mature trees often have multiple, twining trunks, but when young, they maintain a pyramidal shape. With a bit of pruning, they provide a respectable tree for decorating.
The botanical name sabiniana honors Joseph Sabine, a 19th-century British naturalist and secretary of the Royal Horticultural Society. There are many common names for the species, including towani pine, foothill pine, gray pine, ghost pine, and bull pine. They are related to Ponderosa Pine but are not part of that subgroup.
One name that naturalists avoid as a racial slur is digger pine. 'Digger Indians' was the derogatory name given to the Paiutes who dug for seeds at the base of pine trees. Native Americans knew the value of that harvest. According to the Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service site, the seeds of gray pine were an important supplementary food source for the Salinan Indians. Seeds were eaten both raw and roasted, or pounded into flour. The immature cones were boiled down into a syrup for rheumatism. Needles and bark were incorporated into baskets and drums. The sap was used as a sealant. About the only thing gray pines aren't good for is building due to their poor form and high resin content.
Gray pine is adapted to long, hot, dry summers and is found in areas with an unusually wide range of precipitation. It often grows in community with blue oaks. Blue Oak-Pine cover is a preferred habitat for black-tailed deer, though the high terpene content makes pines unpalatable. The high resin content turns gray pine into a torch in a fire. The needles contain ether extracts, which makes them even more flammable.
Unlike flowering plants, which produce seeds within a protective fruit, pines are gymnosperms, translated as "naked seed". The seeds are born on the scales of female cones open to wind
pollination. You may have noticed smaller male cones growing on lower branches. These light brown, 1.2-1.6 inch long structures contain the pollen necessary for reproduction. Once mature, the female seed cones are large and heavy. The scales are thick and rigid with a sealing band. When they open you may hear an audible crack.
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