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pin rigide, pitch pine

slash pine

Habit Trees to 31m; trunk to 0.9m diam., straight or crooked, commonly with adventitious sprouts; crown rounded or irregular. Trees to 30m; trunk to 0.8m diam., straight to contorted; crown conic, becoming rounded or flattened.
Bark

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

orange- to purple-brown, irregularly furrowed and cross-checked into large, irregularly rectangular, papery-scaly plates.

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;

twigs stout (to ca. 1cm thick), orange-brown, aging darker brown, rough-scaly.

Buds

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

scale margins fringed, apex cuspidate.

cylindric, silvery brown, 1.5–2cm;

scale margins 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 or 3 per fascicle, spreading or ascending, persisting ca. 2 years, 15–20(–23)cm × 1.2–1.5mm, straight, slightly twisted, pliant, yellow- to blue-green, all surfaces with stomatal lines, margins finely serrulate, apex abruptly acute to acuminate;

sheath 1–2cm, base persistent.

Pollen cones

cylindric, ca. 20mm, yellow.

cylindric, 30–40mm, purplish.

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, falling the year after seed-shed, single or in pairs, symmetric, lance-ovoid before opening, ovoid or ovoid-cylindric when open, (7–)9–18(–20)cm, light chocolate brown, on stalks to 3cm;

apophyses lustrous (as if varnished), slightly raised, strongly cross-keeled;

umbo central, depressed-pyramidal, with short, stout prickle.

2n

=24.

Pinus rigida

Pinus elliottii

Habitat Upland or lowland, sterile, dry to boggy soils
Elevation 0–1400m (0–4600ft)
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; GA; LA; MS; SC [Introduced in subtropical and warm temperate areas worldwide]
[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.)

Varieties 2 (native only in the flora).

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

Key
1. Seedlings essentially without grass stage, buds thus scattered on the stem; leaves mostly in 3s, sometimes in 2s on same shoot; resin canals 3-5 per leaf; base of open cone ± truncate.
var. elliottii
1. Seedlings tending toward a grass stage, buds thus crowded on contracted stems; leaves mostly in 2s, sometimes in 3s on same shoot; resin canals 3-9 per leaf; base of open cone rounded.
var. densa
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. clausa, P. contorta, P. coulteri, P. echinata, P. edulis, 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
Subordinate taxa
P. elliottii var. densa, P. elliottii var. elliottii
Synonyms P. heterophylla, P. taeda var. heterophylla
Name authority Miller: Gard. Dict., ed. 8 Pinus no. 10. (1768) Engelmann: Trans. Acad. Sci. St. Louis 4: 186, plates 1–3. (1880)
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