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hickory pine, mountain pine, prickley pine, table mountain pine

loblolly pine

Habit Trees to 12m; trunk to 0.6m diam., straight to crooked, erect to leaning, poorly self-pruning; crown irregularly rounded or flattened. Trees to 46m; trunk to 1.6m diam., usually straight, without adventitious shoots; crown broadly conic to rounded.
Bark

red- to gray-brown, irregularly checked into scaly plates.

red-brown, forming square or irregularly rectangular, scaly plates, resin pockets absent.

Branches

horizontally spreading;

twigs slender, orange- to yellow-brown, aging darker brown, rough.

spreading-ascending;

twigs moderately slender (to ca. 1cm thick), orangish to yellow-brown, aging darker brown, rough.

Buds

ovoid to cylindric, red-brown, 0.6–0.9cm, resinous.

lance-cylindric, pale red-brown, 1–1.2(–2)cm, mostly less than 1cm broad, slightly resinous;

scale margins white-fringed, apex acuminate.

Leaves

2(–3) per fascicle, spreading or ascending, persisting 3 years, 3–6(–8)cm × 1–1.5mm, twisted, deep yellow-green, all surfaces with fine stomatal lines, margins harshly serrulate, apex acute to short-acuminate;

sheath 0.5–1cm, base persistent.

2–3 per fascicle, ascending to spreading, persisting 3 years, (10–)12–18(–23)cm × 1–2mm, straight, slightly twisted, pliant, deep yellow-green, all surfaces with narrow stomatal lines, margins finely serrulate, apex acute to abruptly conic-subulate;

sheath 1–2.5cm, base persistent.

Pollen cones

ellipsoid, ca. 15mm, yellow.

cylindric, 20–40mm, yellow to yellow-brown.

Seed(s)

cones maturing in 2 years, variably serotinous, mostly whorled, downcurved, asymmetric, ovoid before opening, broadly ovoid when open, (4–)6–10cm, gray- to pale red-brown, nearly sessile or on stalks to 1cm;

apophyses thickened, diamond-shaped, strongly keeled, elongate, mammillate at cone base abaxially;

umbo central, a stout, curved, sharp claw.

cones maturing in 2 years, shedding seeds soon thereafter, not persistent, solitary or in small clusters, nearly terminal, symmetric, lanceoloid before opening, narrowly ovoid when open, 6–12cm, mostly dull yellow-brown, sessile to nearly sessile, scales without dark border on adaxial surface distally;

apophyses dull, slightly thickened, variously raised (more so toward cone base), rhombic, strongly transversely keeled;

umbo central, recurved, stoutly pyramidal, tapering to stout-based, sharp prickle.

2n

=24.

=24.

Pinus pungens

Pinus taeda

Habitat Dry, mostly sandy or shaly uplands, Appalachians and associated Piedmont Mesic lowlands and swamp borders to dry uplands
Elevation 500–1350m (1600–4400ft) 0–700m (0–2300ft)
Distribution
from FNA
DE; GA; MD; NC; NJ; PA; SC; TN; VA; WV
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AL; AR; DE; FL; GA; KY; LA; MD; MS; NC; NJ; OK; SC; TN; TX; VA
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Pinus pungens is a scrub pine and is too small and knotty to be much utilized except for pulpwood and firewood. Its common name refers to a general type of landform, not to a specific, named mountain.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Originally most races of Pinus taeda were in the lowlands. Following disturbance of the natural vegetation after settlement by Europeans, the species spread to fine-textured, fallow, upland soils, where it now occurs intermixed with P. echinata and P. virginiana. In the Southeast P. taeda is commonly used in plantation forestry, along with P. elliottii and P. echinata. Pinus taeda frequently forms hybrids with P. echinata and P. palustris (P. × sondereggeri H.H. Chapman). Commercially, it is a valuable pulpwood and timber species.

(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
P. albicaulis, P. aristata, P. attenuata, P. balfouriana, P. banksiana, P. cembroides, P. clausa, P. contorta, P. coulteri, P. echinata, P. edulis, P. elliottii, P. engelmannii, P. flexilis, P. glabra, P. jeffreyi, P. lambertiana, P. leiophylla, P. longaeva, P. monophylla, P. monticola, P. muricata, P. palustris, P. ponderosa, P. quadrifolia, P. radiata, P. resinosa, P. rigida, P. sabiniana, P. serotina, P. strobiformis, P. strobus, P. sylvestris, P. taeda, P. torreyana, P. virginiana, P. washoensis
P. albicaulis, P. aristata, P. attenuata, P. balfouriana, P. banksiana, P. cembroides, P. clausa, P. contorta, P. coulteri, P. echinata, P. edulis, P. elliottii, P. engelmannii, P. flexilis, P. glabra, P. jeffreyi, P. lambertiana, P. leiophylla, P. longaeva, P. monophylla, P. monticola, P. muricata, P. palustris, P. ponderosa, P. pungens, P. quadrifolia, P. radiata, P. resinosa, P. rigida, P. sabiniana, P. serotina, P. strobiformis, P. strobus, P. sylvestris, P. torreyana, P. virginiana, P. washoensis
Name authority Lambert: Ann. Bot. (London) 2: 198. (1805) Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 2: 1000. (1753)
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