Pinus rigida
Pinus palustris
pin rigide, pitch pine
longleaf pine
red-brown, deeply and irregularly furrowed, with long, irregularly rectangular, flat, scaly ridges, resin pockets absent.
orange-brown, with coarse, rectangular, scaly plates.
arching-spreading to ascending, poorly self-pruning; 2-year-old branchlets stout (mostly over 5mm thick), orange-brown, aging darker brown, rough.
spreading-descending, upcurved at tips;
twigs stout (to 2cm thick), orange-brown, aging darker brown, rough.
ovoid to ovoid-cylindric, red-brown, ca. 1–1.5cm, resinous;
scale margins fringed, apex cuspidate.
ovoid, silvery white, 3–4cm;
scales narrow, margins fringed.
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)–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.
cylindric, ca. 20mm, yellow.
cylindric, 30–80mm, purplish.
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, 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.
=24.
=24.
Pinus rigida
Pinus palustris
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 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.)
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