Pinus greggii - Gregg's pine, Gregg pine, Pino Chino, Pino Garabato, Pino Ocote, Pino Prieto (Spanish)

Conservation Status

Red List Category & Criteria: Vulnerable

Pinus greggii's extent of occurrence is beyond the thresholds for a threatened category. The area of occupancy is more than 500 km2, but less than 2,000 km2. There are a total of eight locations and the population is severely fragmented. A substantial decline has occurred, and is continuing to occur, in the southern subpopulation (Pinus greggii var. australis) which represents the majority of the total population. There is a lesser ongoing decline in the northern subpopulation (Pinus greggii var. greggii). Consequently the species is assessed as Vulnerable.

It is nowhere abundant in its scattered range, and always occurs mixed with e.g. Quercus, Platanus, Liquidambar, and Fraxinus, other pines, e.g. Pinus patula, Pinus pseudostrobus, Pinus teocote, Pinus montezumae, and Pinus arizonica var. stormiae, with Pinus cembroides and Juniperus flaccida on dry sites, and at higher and more mesic locations with Abies vejarii, Pseudotsuga menziesii, or Cupressus lusitanica.

Deforestation and to a lesser extent general logging in pine forests are the main threats to this species. Although locally exploited with other pines, Gregg's Pine is not specifically in demand as a timber tree in Mexico. In many areas it has been severely depleted by general logging and overexploitation of forests. Foresters from abroad are taking an interest in its potential as a forest plantation tree in other countries; it has been introduced for that purpose in (among other countries) India, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Argentina, and Brazil. Like another, and probably related, "closed-cone" pine, Pinus radiata, it seems to grow much faster in trial plots than several other species (Dvorak and Donahue 1992). Gregg's Pine is rare in cultivation and probably restricted to botanical collections (arboreta), although in Italy it is sometimes planted as an amenity tree.

Some locations are within protected areas - Sierra Gorda, Los Marmoles and Cuenca Hidrografica del Rio Necaxa Reserve.

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