Pinus balfouriana
Pinus palustris
foxtail pine
longleaf pine
gray to salmon or cinnamon, platy or irregularly deep-fissured or with irregular blocky plates.
orange-brown, with coarse, rectangular, scaly plates.
contorted, ascending to descending;
twigs red-brown, aging gray to drab yellow-gray, glabrous or puberulent, young branches resembling long bottlebrushes because of persistent leaves.
spreading-descending, upcurved at tips;
twigs stout (to 2cm thick), orange-brown, aging darker brown, rough.
ovoid-acuminate, red-brown, 0.8–1cm, resinous.
ovoid, silvery white, 3–4cm;
scales narrow, margins fringed.
5 per fascicle, upcurved, persisting 10–30 years, 1.5–4cm × 1–1.4mm, mostly connivent, deep blue- to deep yellow-green, abaxial surface without median groove but usually with 2 subepidermal but evident resin bands, adaxial surfaces conspicuously whitened by stomates, margins mostly entire to blunt, apex broadly acute to acuminate;
sheath 0.5–1cm, soon forming rosette, shed early.
(2)–3 per fascicle, spreading-recurved, persisting 2 years, 20–45cm × ca. 1.5mm, slightly twisted, lustrous yellow-green, all surfaces with fine stomatal lines, margins finely serrulate, apex abruptly acute to acuminate;
sheath 2–2.5(–3)cm, base persistent.
ellipsoid, ca. 6–10mm, red.
cylindric, 30–80mm, purplish.
cones maturing in 2 years, shedding seeds and falling soon thereafter, spreading, symmetric, lance-cylindric with conic base before opening, broadly lance-ovoid or ovoid to cylindric or ovoid-cylindric when open, 6–9(–11)cm, purple, aging red-brown, nearly sessile;
apophyses much thickened, rounded, larger toward cone base;
umbo central, usually depressed;
prickle absent or weak, to 1mm, resin exudates amber.
cones maturing in 2 years, quickly shedding seeds and falling, solitary or paired toward branchlet tips, symmetric, lanceoloid before opening, ovoid-cylindric when open, 15–25cm, dull brown, sessile (rarely short-stalked);
apophyses dull, slightly thickened, slightly raised, nearly rhombic, strongly cross-keeled;
umbo central, broadly triangular, with short, stiff, reflexed prickle.
=24.
=24.
Pinus balfouriana
Pinus palustris
Pinus balfouriana is the true "foxtail pine." In leaf character it is hardly, if at all, distinguishable from P. longaeva, but its strongly conic-based cones with distinctly shorter-prickled, sunken-centered umbos at once distinguish it from that species.
Plants shown to be genetically distinct from the type (differences in chemistry, form, foliage, cone orientation, and seeds) have been called Pinus balfouriana subsp. austrina R.Mastrogiuseppe & J.Mastrogiuseppe. As in several other species or species complexes in Pinus, however, there is a problem with a character gradient involving related taxa. The evidence presented by D.K. Bailey (1970) and later by R.J. Mastrogiuseppe and J.D. Mastrogiuseppe (1980) could as well be used to indicate that P. balfouriana (with its two infraspecific taxa) and P. longaeva represent a single species of three subspecies or three varieties. The more conservative view of Bailey is followed here.
Of conservation concern.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Pinus palustris is fire successional, with a deep taproot and a definite grass stage. It is a valued species for lumber and pulpwood and was once important for naval stores (e.g., turpentine, pine oil, tar, pitch). It is fast disappearing over much of its natural range, partly through overharvesting but especially because of difficulties in adapting it to current plantation and management techniques.
Longleaf pine (Pinus palustris) is the state tree of North Carolina.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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Flora NW
PNW Herbaria
WildflowerSearch
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USDA Plants Database
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