Front Range Seed Analysts
Seed Forum Volume 10 Number 1
February 1996
Book Review
by Annette Logan Miller
The Pinon Pine:A Natural and Cultural History
By Ronald M. Lanner, University of Nevada Press, 208
pages
North of Fort Collins about 10 miles, there is a stand of Pinon trees that represents the northernmost extension of the range of Pinus edulis. The stand is protected by a State Natural Area designation. This old grove in Owl Canyon is many miles from the next nearest population and botanists speculate that Indians aided its establishment either by incidentally dropping the seeds or intentionally planting them. The importance of pinon nuts to Indians, and to us today is explained in The Pinon Pine; A Natural and Cultural History by Ronald M. Lanner. Pinon ecology is detailed as well with a fascinating section about seed dispersal by birds.
The Clark's nutcracker and the Pinon Jay are master seed analysts employing visual cues, heft, and sound waves to determine if the pinon seed is worth tucking in the pouch beneath their tongue and then flying it off to their underground caches. The birds will not even dig the seed out of the cone unless it is the proper hue of dark brown. Once removed from the cone, the dark seed is weighed in the bill and discarded if empty. If it is filled the bird then clicks the seed rapidly in its bill and listens for the sound that tells whether the seed is normal or diseased or resinous.
The caches are essential to pinon establishment. Seeds, which fall directly below the tree, may start to germinate if there is adequate moisture, but will soon die in the heat and exposure on the ground. Those that are cached underground and uneaten by animals (including humans) will have the best chance for establishment.
Lanner also gives harvest and preparation information, nutritional value and even recipes. My personal favorite use is in stuffing at Thanksgiving.
Though this book is said to be out of print, I found a
few copies of it at the Tattered Cover in Denver. Libraries in the region
also have the book.