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pin rigide, pitch pine

bottom white pine, cedar pine, spruce pine, Walter 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 1m diam., straight; crown conic to rounded.
Bark

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

gray, fissured and cross-checked into elongate, irregular, scaly plates, resin pockets absent, on upper sections of trunk ± smooth, gray, looking slick.

Branches

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

whorled, spreading to ascending;

twigs slender, purple-red to red-brown, occasionally glaucous, aging gray, smooth.

Buds

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

scale margins fringed, apex cuspidate.

ovoid to ovoid-cylindric, red-brown, ca. 0.5–1cm, slightly resinous;

scale margins finely 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 to ascending, persisting 2–3 years, 4–8(–10)cm × 0.7–1.2mm, straight, slightly twisted, dark green, all surfaces with fine stomatal lines, margins finely serrulate, apex sharply conic;

sheath 0.5–1cm, base persistent.

Pollen cones

cylindric, ca. 20mm, yellow.

lance-cylindric, 10–15mm, purple-brown.

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, semipersistent, spreading to recurved, nearly symmetric, lance-ovoid before opening, ovoid-cylindric when open, 3.5–7cm, red-brown, aging gray, nearly sessile or on stalks to 1cm, scales lacking contrasting border on adaxial surfaces (as in P. echinata);

apophyses but slightly thickened and raised;

umbo central, depressed, unarmed or with small, curved, weak, deciduous, short-incurved prickle.

2n

=24.

=24.

Pinus rigida

Pinus glabra

Habitat Upland or lowland, sterile, dry to boggy soils Sandy alluvium and mesic woodland
Elevation 0–1400m (0–4600ft) 0–150m (0–500ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CT; DE; GA; KY; MA; MD; ME; NC; NH; NJ; NY; OH; PA; RI; SC; TN; VA; VT; WV; ON; QC
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[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AL; FL; GA; LA; MS; SC
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[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.)

Pinus glabra is more shade tolerant than most yellow pines. Although the trees grow large, the wood is not much valued. The species is similar in tree form to P. strobus. It resembles P. echinata in shoot and leaf but has less prickly cones and deeper green leaves.

(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. clausa, P. contorta, P. coulteri, P. echinata, P. edulis, P. elliottii, P. engelmannii, P. flexilis, 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
Name authority Miller: Gard. Dict., ed. 8 Pinus no. 10. (1768) Walter: Fl. Carol. 237. (1788)
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