Pinus engelmannii

Pinus engelmannii, the Apache pine, is a medium-sized pine of northern Mexico, where it grows in the Sierra Madre Occidental, with its range reaching into the southwestern United States. Trees stand about 20 to 30 m tall with trunks 35 to 80 cm across, and the branches are sparse and very stout, which gives the tree a distinctive open look. The needles are among the longest of any pine, usually 20 to 40 cm and sometimes up to 50 cm, borne in bundles of three and occasionally five. The cones are 8 to 16 cm long, green or purple while growing and glossy brown when mature, with stoutly spined scales. Like some related pines, young trees can pass through a grass stage. The common name refers to the lands of the Apache, and the scientific name honors the botanist George Engelmann, who found the species in 1848. It was once treated as a variety of ponderosa pine but is now regarded as a separate species.