Pinus longaeva |
Pinus palustris |
|
---|---|---|
bristlecone pine, Great Basin bristlecone pine, intermountain bristlecone pine |
longleaf pine |
|
Habit | Trees to 16m; trunk to 2m diam., strongly tapering; crown rounded, flattened (sheared), or irregular. | Trees to 47m; trunk to 1.2m diam., straight; crown rounded. |
Bark | red-brown, shallowly to deeply fissured with thick, scaly, irregular, blocky ridges. |
orange-brown, with coarse, rectangular, scaly plates. |
Branches | contorted, pendent; twigs pale red-brown, aging gray to yellow-gray, 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. |
Buds | ovoid-acuminate, pale red-brown, ca. 1cm, resinous. |
ovoid, silvery white, 3–4cm; scales narrow, margins fringed. |
Leaves | mostly 5 per fascicle, upcurved, persisting 10–30 years, 1.5–3.5cm × 0.8–1.2mm, mostly connivent, deep yellow-green, with few resin splotches but often scurfy with pale scales, abaxial surface without median groove but with 2 subepidermal but evident resin bands, adaxial surfaces conspicuously whitened with stomates, margins entire or remotely and finely serrulate distally, apex bluntly acute to short-acuminate; sheath ca. 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. |
Pollen cones | cylindro-ellipsoid, 7–10mm, purple-red. |
cylindric, 30–80mm, purplish. |
Seed(s) | cones maturing in 2 years, shedding seeds and falling soon thereafter, spreading, symmetric, lance-cylindric with rounded base before opening, lance-cylindric to narrowly ovoid when open, 6–9.5cm, purple, aging red-brown, nearly sessile; apophyses much thickened, sharply keeled; umbo central, raised on low buttress, truncate to umbilicate, abruptly narrowed to slender but stiff, variable prickle 1–6mm, resin exudate pale. |
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. |
2n | =24. |
|
Pinus longaeva |
Pinus palustris |
|
Habitat | Subalpine and alpine | Dry sandy uplands, sandhills, and flatwoods |
Elevation | 1700–3400m (5600–11200ft) | 0–700m (0–2300ft) |
Distribution |
CA; NV; UT
|
AL; FL; GA; LA; MS; NC; SC; TX; VA
|
Discussion | Pinus longaeva is considered by dendrochronologists to be the longest-lived tree. One tree was estimated to be 5000 years old. (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.) |
Source | FNA vol. 2. | FNA vol. 2. |
Parent taxa | Pinaceae > Pinus | Pinaceae > Pinus |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | P. aristata var. longaeva | P. australis |
Name authority | D. K. Bailey: Ann. Missouri Bot. Gard. 57: 243. (1970) | Miller: Gard. Dict., ed. 8 Pinus no. 14. (1768) |
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