The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
enable glossary links

pin rigide, pitch pine

sand pine, scrub pine, spruce pine

Habit Trees to 31m; trunk to 0.9m diam., straight or crooked, commonly with adventitious sprouts; crown rounded or irregular. Trees to 21m; trunk to 0.5m diam., straight and erect to leaning and crooked, much branched; crown mostly rounded or irregular.
Bark

red-brown, deeply and irregularly furrowed, with long, irregularly rectangular, flat, scaly ridges, resin pockets absent.

gray to gray-brown, furrowed, with narrow, flat, irregular ridges, resin pockets absent, on upper sections of the trunk reddish to red-brown, platy becoming smooth distally.

Branches

arching-spreading to ascending, poorly self-pruning; 2-year-old branchlets stout (mostly over 5mm thick), orange-brown, aging darker brown, rough.

spreading to ascending, poorly self-pruning;

twigs slender, violet- to red-brown, rarely glaucous, aging gray, smooth.

Buds

ovoid to ovoid-cylindric, red-brown, ca. 1–1.5cm, resinous;

scale margins fringed, apex cuspidate.

cylindric, purple-brown, to 1cm;

scale margins white-fringed.

Leaves

3(–5) per fascicle, spreading to ascending, persisting 2–3 years, 5–10(–15)cm × 1–1.5(–2)mm, straight, twisted, deep to pale yellow-green, all surfaces with fine stomatal lines, margins serrulate, apex abruptly subulate-acuminate;

sheath 0.9–1.2cm, base persistent.

2 per fascicle, spreading-ascending, persisting 2–3 years, (3–)6–9(–10)cm × ca. 1mm, straight, slightly twisted, dark green, all surfaces with fine, inconspicuous stomatal lines, margins finely serrulate, apex short-conic;

sheath 0.3–0.5(–0.7)cm, base persistent.

Pollen cones

cylindric, ca. 20mm, yellow.

ellipsoid, ca. 10mm, brownish yellow.

Seed(s)

cones maturing in 2 years, shedding seeds soon thereafter or variously serotinous and long-persistent, often clustered, symmetric, conic to ovoid before opening, broadly ovoid with flat or slightly convex base when open, 3–9cm, creamy brown to light red-brown, sessile to short-stalked, base truncate, scales firm, with dark red-brown border on adaxial surface distally;

apophyses slightly raised, rhombic, with strong transverse keels;

umbo central, low-triangular, with slender, downcurved prickle.

cones maturing in 2 years, shedding seeds soon thereafter or often long-serotinous, long-persistent, solitary or whorled, spreading, symmetric (rarely slightly asymmetric, reflexed), lanceoloid before opening, ovoid to broadly ovoid when open, 3–8cm, red-brown, sessile or on stalks to 1cm, scales with dark red-brown, purple, or purple-gray border distally on adaxial surface;

apophyses thickened, shallowly and angulately raised, transversely rhombic, cross-keeled;

umbo central, low-pyramidal, tapering to sharp tip or weak, often deciduous prickle.

2n

=24.

=24.

Pinus rigida

Pinus clausa

Habitat Upland or lowland, sterile, dry to boggy soils Fire successional in sand dunes and white sandhills
Elevation 0–1400m (0–4600ft) 0–60m (0–200ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CT; DE; GA; KY; MA; MD; ME; NC; NH; NJ; NY; OH; PA; RI; SC; TN; VA; VT; WV; ON; QC
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AL; FL
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Pinus rigida often has poor form and is not valued highly as saw timber. It is fire successional, sprouts adventitiously, and is frequently shrubby in the northern part of its range. It is known to hybridize naturally with P. echinata.

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

Although Pinus clausa is too profusely branched to be important for saw timber, it is managed to produce a high volume of pulpwood in northern peninsular Florida.

(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. pungens, P. quadrifolia, P. radiata, P. resinosa, 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. 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. taeda, P. torreyana, P. virginiana, P. washoensis
Synonyms P. inops var. clausa, P. clausa var. immuginata
Name authority Miller: Gard. Dict., ed. 8 Pinus no. 10. (1768) (Chapman ex Engelmann) Sargent: Rep. For. N. America 199. (1884)
Web links