Pinus echinata
Pinus serotina
shortleaf pine
marsh pine, pocosin pine, pond pine
red-brown, scaly-plated, plates with evident resin pockets.
red-brown, irregularly furrowed and cross-checked into rectangular, flat, scaly plates.
spreading-ascending; 2-year-old branchlets slender (ca. 5mm or less), greenish brown to red-brown, often glaucous, aging red-brown to gray, roughened and cracking below leafy portion.
spreading to ascending;
twigs stout, orange- to yellow-orange, frequently glaucous, aging darker.
ovoid to cylindric, red-brown, 0.5–0.7(–1)cm, resinous.
ovoid to narrowly ovoid, red-brown, 1–1.5(–2)cm, resinous.
2(–3) per fascicle, spreading-ascending, persistent 3–5 years, (5–)7–11(–13)cm × ca. 1mm, straight, slightly twisted, gray- to yellow-green, all surfaces with fine stomatal lines, margins finely serrulate, apex abruptly acute;
sheath 0.5–1(–1.5)cm, base persistent.
3 per fascicle (to 5 in adventitious or disturbed growth), spreading to ascending, persisting 2–3 years, (12–)15–20(–21)cm × 1.3–1.5(–2)mm, slightly twisted, tufted at twig tips, straight, yellow-green, all surfaces with fine stomatal lines, margins serrulate, apex acuminate;
sheath 1–2cm, base persistent.
cylindric, 15–20mm, yellow- to pale purple-green.
cylindric, to 30mm, yellow-brown.
cones maturing in 2 years, semipersistent, solitary or clustered, spreading, symmetric, lanceoloid or narrowly ovoid before opening, ovoid-conic when open, 4–6(–7)cm, red-brown, aging gray, nearly sessile or on stalks to 1cm, scales lacking contrasting dark border on adaxial surfaces distally;
umbo central, with elongate to short, stout, sharp prickle.
cones maturing in 2 years, in some populations beginning to shed seeds then but more often variably serotinous, long-persistent, often whorled, symmetric, ovoid to lanceoloid before opening, broadly ovoid to nearly globose when open, 5–8cm, pale red-brown to creamy brown, sessile or on stalks to 1cm, scales with dark red-brown border on adaxial surface distally;
apophyses slightly thickened, low, rhombic, low cross-keeled;
umbo central, low-conic, with short, weak prickle, sometimes unarmed.
=24.
=24.
Pinus echinata
Pinus serotina
Although Pinus echinata is highly valued for timber and pulpwood, it is afflicted by root rot. It hybridizes with P. taeda, the pine most commonly associated with it.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Pinus serotina is fire successional and sprouts adventitiously after crown fires. It is part of a distinct forest type including Taxodium distichum (Linnaeus) Richard, Nyssa biflora Walter, Magnolia virginiana Linnaeus, Persea sp., and Ilex sp. Of good form when protected from fire, P. serotina then much resembles P. taeda, with which it hybridizes naturally. It is of increasing importance as pulpwood.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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