{{Short description|Pine tree found in North America}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2023}} {{Speciesbox | image = Pinus sabiniana.jpg | status = LC | status_system = IUCN3.1 | status_ref = <ref name="iucn status 19 November 2021">{{cite iucn |author=Farjon, A. |date=2013 |title=''Pinus sabiniana'' |volume=2013 |article-number=e.T42413A2978429 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2013-1.RLTS.T42413A2978429.en |access-date=19 November 2021}}</ref> | genus = Pinus | parent = Pinus subsect. Ponderosae | display_parents = 3 | species = sabiniana | authority = Douglas ex D.Don | range_map =Pinus sabiniana distribution map.svg }}
'''''Pinus sabiniana''''' (sometimes spelled '''''P. sabineana''''') is a pine endemic to California in the United States.{{sfn|Cole|1939}}{{sfn|Beissner|1909}} Its vernacular names include '''towani pine''', '''foothill pine''', '''gray pine''', '''ghost pine''', and '''bull pine'''. The name '''digger pine''' was historically used but includes a racial slur.<ref name="usdaRef">{{Cite web |title=Data Source and References for Pinus sabiniana (California foothill pine) |url=https://plants.usda.gov/java/reference?symbol=PISA2 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121112131903/http://plants.usda.gov/java/reference?symbol=PISA2 |archive-date=12 November 2012 |access-date=2012-10-20 |work=USDA PLANTS}}</ref><ref name="jepTreat">{{Jepson Manual|id=195,210,232|taxon=Pinus sabiniana|access-date=2012-10-20}}</ref><ref name="Gymnosperm">{{Gymnosperm Database|family=Pinaceae|genus=Pinus|species=sabiniana|access-date=2019-02-08}}</ref><ref name="calflora">{{Calflora|Pinus sabiniana|accessdate=2012-10-20}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Pinus sabiniana |url=https://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/plants/tree/pinsab/all.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020225060213/https://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/plants/tree/pinsab/all.html |archive-date=25 Feb 2002 |access-date=15 July 2022}}</ref>
== Description == ''Pinus sabiniana'' trees typically grow to {{convert|36|-|45|ft|order=flip}}, but can reach {{convert|105|ft|m|abbr=on|order=flip}}. The pine needles are in fascicles (bundles) of three, distinctively pale gray-green, sparse and drooping, and grow to {{convert|20|-|30|cm|frac=2}} in length. The seed cones are large and heavy, {{convert|12|-|35|cm|in|frac=4|abbr=in}} in length and almost as wide as they are long.<ref name="calflora" /><ref name="jepTreat" /><ref name="usdaTreat" /> When fresh, they weigh from {{convert|0.3|to|0.7|kg|lb|1}}, rarely over {{convert|1|kg|lb|abbr=on}}.<ref name="Silvics" /> The male cones grow at the base of shoots on the lower branches.<ref name="calflora" /><ref name="jepTreat" /><ref name="usdaTreat">{{Cite web | title = Classification for Kingdom Plantae Down to Species Pinus sabiniana Douglas ex Douglas | work = USDA PLANTS | access-date = 2012-10-20 | url = https://plants.usda.gov/java/ClassificationServlet?source=profile&symbol=PISA2&display=31 | archive-date = 12 November 2012 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20121112131912/http://plants.usda.gov/java/ClassificationServlet?source=profile&symbol=PISA2&display=31 | url-status = live }}</ref> <gallery> File:Pinus sabineana 00061.JPG|Bark File:Pinus sabiniana (Gray Pine) - foliage (30485878313).jpg|Foliage File:Pinus sabiniana pollen cones Pinnacles, California.jpg|Pollen cones File:J20161101-0079—Gray pine cone, pine nuts, and resin—RPBG (30547385050).jpg|Cone, seeds, and resin </gallery>
== Taxonomy == === Common name === The name digger pine supposedly came from the observation that the Paiute foraged for its seeds by digging around the base of the tree. 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. The Jepson Manual advises avoiding this name as the authors believe "digger" is pejorative in origin.<ref>Hickman, J.C. (Ed.) "The Jepson Manual, Higher Plants of California". University of California Press, Berkeley, 1993 p.120.</ref><ref>{{Jepson Manual|id=195,210,232|taxon=Pinus sabiniana|access-date=January 6, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Lonnberg |first=Allan |date=1981 |title=The Digger Indian Stereotype in California |url=https://escholarship.org/uc/item/6qq09790 |url-status=live |journal=Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology |volume=3 |issue=2 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220920173156/https://escholarship.org/uc/item/6qq09790 |archive-date=20 September 2022 |access-date=20 September 2022}}</ref>
The tree is also sometimes thought of as a pinyon pine, though it does not belong to that group. {| class="wikitable"
|+ ''Pinus sabiniana'' in Californian languages |- ! Language !! Name |- | Achumawi || tujhalo |- | Awaswas Ohlone || hireeni (pine tree); saak (pinenut) |- | Chalon Ohlone || šaak (pinenut) |- | Chimariko || hatcho |- | Chochenyo Ohlone || saak (pinenut) |- | Chukchansi Yokuts || ton' (pinenut); shaaxal' (pine sap) |- | Karuk || axyúsip |- | Klamath || gapga <ref name="hinton">{{Cite book |last=Hinton |first=Leanne |author-link=Leanne Hinton |url=https://archive.org/details/flutesoffireessa0000hint |title=Flutes of fire :essays on California Indian languages |date=1996 |publisher=Heyday Books |isbn=978-0-930588-62-5 |location=Berkeley, CA |url-access=registration}}</ref> |- | Konkow || tä-nē' <ref>{{cite book |last1=Chesnut |first1=Victor King |author-link=Victor King Chesnut |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vLkUAAAAYAAJ |title=Plants used by the Indians of Mendocino County, California |publisher=Government Printing Office |year=1902 |page=408 |access-date=24 August 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240502094745/https://books.google.com/books?id=vLkUAAAAYAAJ |archive-date=2 May 2024 |url-status=live}}</ref> |- | Maidu || towáni |- | Mono || tunah |- | Mutsun Ohlone || hireeni; saak (pinenut) |- | Patwin || tuwa; sanank (pinenut) |- | Rumsen Ohlone || xirren |- | Southern Sierra Miwok || sakky |- | Wappo || náyo |- | Wintu || xisi (unripe pinenut); chati (ripe pinenut) |- | Yana || c'ala'i <ref name="hinton" /> |}
=== Botanical name ===
The scientific botanical name with the standard spelling ''sabiniana'' commemorates Joseph Sabine, secretary of the Horticultural Society of London. Some botanists proposed a new spelling ''sabineana'', because they were confused with Latin grammar. The proposal has not been accepted by the relevant authorities (i.e. United States Department of Agriculture, The Jepson Manual or Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN).<ref name="usdaRef" /><ref name="jepTreat" /><ref name="calflora" /><ref name="GRIN">{{GRIN|name=''Pinus sabiniana'' Douglas|id=28540|access-date=1 October 2010}}</ref> The GRIN notes that the spelling ''sabiniana'' agrees with a provision in the Vienna Code of the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature, the governing body of botanical nomenclature. In that code, recommendation 60.2C states that personal names can be Latinized in species epithets: 'Sabine' is Latinised to ''sabinius'', with the addition of the suffix "-anus" (pertaining to) the word becomes ''sabiniana'' (In Latin, trees are feminine, irrespective if the word ends with a masculine suffix, i.e. ''pinus'').<ref name="GRIN" /><ref name="ViennaCode">International Code of Botanical Nomenclature. 2006. [http://ibot.sav.sk/icbn/frameset/0065Ch7OaGoNSec1a60.htm#recC Recommendation 60C.2] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210126040330/https://ibot.sav.sk/icbn/frameset/0065Ch7OaGoNSec1a60.htm#recC|date=26 January 2021}}. Accessed online: 1 October 2010.</ref> The GRIN database notes that Sabine's last name is not correctable and therefore ''Pinus sabiniana'' is the proper name for the species.
== Distribution and habitat ==
''Pinus sabiniana'' grows at elevations between sea level and {{convert|4000|ft|m|order=flip|abbr=on}} and is common in the northern and interior portions of the California Floristic Province. It is found throughout the Sierra Nevada and Coast Ranges foothills that ring the Central, San Joaquin and interior valleys; the Transverse and Peninsular Ranges; and Mojave Desert sky islands.<ref name="jepTreat" /><ref name="usdaTreat" /> Multiple specimens have also been found in Southern Oregon as well.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.npsoregon.org/kalmiopsis/kalmiopsis16/callahan.pdf|title=Discovering Gray Pine (Pinus sabiniana) in Oregon|author=Frank Callahan|website=Npsoregon.org|access-date=24 March 2022|archive-date=23 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230123150419/https://www.npsoregon.org/kalmiopsis/kalmiopsis16/callahan.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Pinus sabiniana (gray pine) description - The Gymnosperm Database |url=https://www.conifers.org/pi/Pinus_sabiniana.php |access-date=2023-02-26 |website=www.conifers.org |archive-date=1 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200601042422/https://www.conifers.org/pi/Pinus_sabiniana.php |url-status=live }}</ref> It is adapted to long, hot, dry summers and is found in areas with an unusually wide range of precipitation: from an average of {{convert|250|mm|0|abbr=on}} per year at the edge of the Mojave to {{convert|1780|mm|abbr=on}} in parts of the Sierra Nevada.<ref name="Silvics">{{Silvics |first=Robert F. |last=Powers |volume=1 |genus=Pinus |species=sabiniana |access-date=2016-03-17}}</ref> It prefers rocky, well drained soil, but also grows in serpentine soil and heavy, poorly drained clay soils. It commonly occurs in association with ''Quercus douglasii'',{{sfn|Hogan|2008}} and "Oak/Foothill Pine vegetation" (also known as "Oak/Gray Pine vegetation") is used as a description of a type of habitat characteristic within the California chaparral and woodlands ecoregion in California, providing a sparse overstory above a canopy of the oak woodland.
== Ecology == ''Pinus sabiniana'' needles are a food of the caterpillars of the Gelechiid moth ''Chionodes sabinianus''. Fossil evidence suggests that it has only recently become adapted to the Mediterranean climate as its closest relatives are part of the Madrean pine-oak woodlands found at higher elevations in the southwest US and Mexico.<ref>Munz, P. "A California Flora and supplement" University of California Press</ref>
Animals help spread the seeds, including birds such as the scrub jay and acorn woodpecker.<ref name="tktimb">{{Cite book |last1=Turner |first1=Mark |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VLbAAwAAQBAJ |title=Trees & Shrubs of the Pacific Northwest |last2=Kuhlmann |first2=Ellen |date=2014 |publisher=Timber Press |isbn=978-1-60469-263-1 |edition=1st |location=Portland, OR |page=85}}</ref>
== Uses == Some Native American groups relied heavily on sweet pine nuts for food<ref>{{cite book |last=Peattie |first=Donald Culross |author-link=Donald C. Peattie |title=A Natural History of Western Trees |year=1953 |publisher=Bonanza Books |location=New York |page=94}}</ref> and are thought to have contributed to the current distribution pattern, including the large gap in distribution in Tulare County. Native Americans also consumed the roots.<ref>{{cite book |last=Whitney |first=Stephen |title=Western Forests (The Audubon Society Nature Guides) |date=1985 |publisher=Knopf |location=New York |isbn=0-394-73127-1 |page=[https://archive.org/details/westernforests00whit/page/409 409] |url=https://archive.org/details/westernforests00whit/page/409 }}</ref>
Protein and fat nutritional value of the seed are similar to ''Pinus pinea'' seeds and figured in the local indigenous diet.<ref name="USDA">{{Cite journal |last=Adams |first=Robert P. |last2=Wright |first2=Jessica W. |date=2012 |title=Alkanes and terpenes in wood and leaves of Pinus jeffreyi and P. sabiniana |url=https://research.fs.usda.gov/treesearch/41237 |journal=Journal of Essential Oil Research. 6 p. DOI:10.1080/10412905.2012.703512 |language=en |doi=10.1080/10412905.2012.703512 |issn=1041-2905}}</ref>
Wood uses historically were determined by its particular characteristics, e.g., 0.43 mean specific gravity nearly equal to Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii); strength properties similar to ponderosa pine; Kraft pulps high in bursting with tensile strength comparable to some northern conifer pulps; and foothill stands loggable in winter, when higher-altitude species were inaccessible. However, the high amounts of resin and compression wood, the often crooked form, heavy weight, and low stand density, made it expensive otherwise to log, transport and process. Commercial value decreased by the 1960s,<ref name="USDA" /> to limited use for railroad ties, box "shook",<ref>{{Cite web|url = https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/shook#Noun|title = Shook|date = 23 December 2021|access-date = 9 February 2022|archive-date = 9 February 2022|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20220209025206/https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/shook#Noun|url-status = live}}</ref> pallet stock, and chips.
It may still offer potential as windbreak shelterbelt plantings.<ref name="USDA" />
The main turpentine constituent, n-heptane, a linear alkane, constituting approximately 37 percent of resin derived from its wood,<ref name="USDA" /> is unusual in botany; the only other sources in nature perhaps being the closely related Pinus jeffreyi, sometimes known as the "gasoline tree", which gained historical significance when distilling its resin during the 19th century accidentally led to the extraction of exceptionally pure n-heptane and several accidental explosions during the 19th centuryinspiring n-heptane to be used as the zero point for octane rating—and within ''Pittosporum resiniferum'', likewise known as the "petroleum nut" or kerosene tree.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Moore |first=Lincoln M. |url=https://plants.usda.gov/DocumentLibrary/plantguide/pdf/pg_pije.pdf |title=NCRS Plant Guide - Jeffrey Pine |last2=Walker Wilson |first2=Jeffrey D. |date=2006-06-22 |publisher=NCRS |language=en |format=PDF |department=USDA}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Smith |first=C. Stowell |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P6hec39aNmYC&pg=PA327#v=onepage&q&f=false |title=Turpentine possibilities on the pacific coast |date=1914-12-04 |publisher=Proceedings of the Society of American Foresters |edition=IX (1) |pages=327–338 |language=en |access-date=2025-12-24}}</ref>
== Gallery == <gallery> File:FoothillPineCone.jpg|''P. sabiniana'' cone File:Pinus sabiniana Pinnacles NM 8.jpg|''P. sabiniana'' in mountain foothills habitat in Pinnacles National Park File:Pinus sabiniana SacramentoValley.jpg|''P. sabiniana'' in chaparral habitat in Sacramento Valley File:Pinus sabiniana Mt Diablo.jpg|''P. sabiniana'' on Mt Diablo clearly showing the heavy cones. File:Pinus sabineana 00058.JPG|The cone </gallery>
== Notes == {{Reflist}}
== References == * {{cite book |first=James E. |last=Cole |date=1939 |title=The Cone-bearing Trees of Yosemite: Digger Pine |url=http://www.yosemite.ca.us/library/cone-bearing_trees/digger_pine.html }} * A. Farjon (2005). ''Pines: Drawings and descriptions of the genus Pinus''. Brill. {{ISBN|90-04-13916-8}} * {{cite web |first=C. Michael |last=Hogan |date=2008 |title=Blue Oak (''Quercus douglasii'') |url=http://globaltwitcher.auderis.se/artspec_information.asp?thingid=85046 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120228073950/http://globaltwitcher.auderis.se/artspec_information.asp?thingid=85046 |archive-date=2012-02-28 |website=GlobalTwitcher |editor-first=Nicklas |editor-last=Stromberg }} * Discovery Channel (2010), ''MythBusters'', [http://mythbustersresults.com/boomerang-bulleth Episode 138]{{dead link|date=January 2025|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}} * {{cite book |author-link=Ludwig Beissner |first=Ludwig |last=Beissner |date=1909 |title=Handbuch der Nadelholzkunde: Systematik, Beschreibung, Verwendung und Kultur der Ginkgoaceen, Freiland- Coniferen und Gnetaceen. Für Gärtner, Forstleute und Botaniker |url=https://archive.org/details/handbuchdernadel00beisuoft |publisher=P. Parey }} * {{cite journal |first=Allan |last=Lonnberg |date=1981 |title=The Digger Indian Stereotype in California |issue=2 |url=https://escholarship.org/uc/item/6qq09790 |journal=Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology|volume=3 }}
== Further reading == * {{cite book | last1 = Chase| first1 = J. Smeaton| author-link1 = J. Smeaton Chase|others=Eytel, Carl (illustrations)|title = Cone-bearing Trees of the California Mountains |chapter=''Pinus sabiniana'' (Digger-pine, Gray-pine, Piñon-pine, Nut-pine)|chapter-url = https://archive.org/details/conebearingtrees00chas/page/28/mode/2up| location = Chicago | publisher = A.C. McClurg & Co. | pages = 28–30 |year=1911 | oclc = 3477527|lccn=11004975}}
== External links == * {{Commons and category inline}} * {{Wikispecies-inline}} * {{Jepson eFlora|38304 |link=1}} * [https://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=PISA2 USDA PLANTS Treatment for ''Pinus sabiniana'' (California foothill pine)] * {{CalPhotos|Pinus|sabiniana}}
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{{Taxonbar|from=Q2473331}} {{Authority control}}
sabiniana Category:Endemic flora of California Category:Trees of Northern America Category:Flora of the Sierra Nevada (United States) Category:Flora of the California desert regions Category:Natural history of the California chaparral and woodlands Category:Garden plants of North America Category:Ornamental trees Category:Drought-tolerant trees Category:Butterfly food plants Category:Edible nuts and seeds