Stats

Lifespan: Up to 250 yrs
Size: Medium
Diet: Photosynthetic
Biome: Temperate woodland
Range: North America
Movement: Sessile
Breeding: Seeds
Defense: Spines
Status: Uncommon

About

The only pine species in the world that normally bears just one needle per bundle, singleleaf pinyon fills the Great Basin's dry foothills with its rounded, shrubby crown. Its large wingless seeds have been harvested as pine nuts by Indigenous communities throughout the American Southwest for thousands of years.

Life cycle

1.
seed
A dormant seed waits for water and warmth before germinating.
2.
sprout
A first shoot emerges with cotyledon leaves and a tap root reaching down.
3.
sapling
A young plant grows true leaves and a stem or trunk, putting on height each season.
4.
mature
Fully grown, flowering or fruiting at adult size.

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Taxonomy

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Class: Pinopsida
Order: Pinales
Family: Pinaceae
Genus: Pinus
Species: Pinus monophylla