ABSTRACT
This chapter includes the family name, several colloquial names, and paragraphs on uses, folk medicine, chemistry, germplasm, distribution, ecology, cultivation, harvesting, yields, energy, and biotic factors of Pinus Edulis Engelm. The State Tree of New Mexico, Pinus Edulis species furnishes the pionn nuts or Indian nuts of commerce. Nuts have a rather disagreeable flavor but are highly nutritious, rich in protein. Wood is mainly used for fuel and fenceposts; infrequently the tree-form is used for lumber of fair quality. The pinon wood was also used in Indian construction. According to J. L. Hartwell, the pitch is used in folk remedies for tumors of the fingers and external cancers. Reported to be antiseptic and suppurative, the plant is used as a folk remedy for boils, bugbites, laryngitis, myalgia, pneumonia, sores, sore throat, swellings, syphilis, and wounds. Fumes of burning pitch were inhaled by Indians for headcold, cough, and earache.
