Pinus serotina
Pinus taeda
marsh pine, pocosin pine, pond pine
loblolly pine
red-brown, irregularly furrowed and cross-checked into rectangular, flat, scaly plates.
red-brown, forming square or irregularly rectangular, scaly plates, resin pockets absent.
spreading to ascending;
twigs stout, orange- to yellow-orange, frequently glaucous, aging darker.
spreading-ascending;
twigs moderately slender (to ca. 1cm thick), orangish to yellow-brown, aging darker brown, rough.
ovoid to narrowly ovoid, red-brown, 1–1.5(–2)cm, resinous.
lance-cylindric, pale red-brown, 1–1.2(–2)cm, mostly less than 1cm broad, slightly resinous;
scale margins white-fringed, apex acuminate.
3 per fascicle (to 5 in adventitious or disturbed growth), spreading to ascending, persisting 2–3 years, (12–)15–20(–21)cm × 1.3–1.5(–2)mm, slightly twisted, tufted at twig tips, straight, yellow-green, all surfaces with fine stomatal lines, margins serrulate, apex acuminate;
sheath 1–2cm, 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.
cylindric, to 30mm, yellow-brown.
cylindric, 20–40mm, yellow to yellow-brown.
cones maturing in 2 years, in some populations beginning to shed seeds then but more often variably serotinous, long-persistent, often whorled, symmetric, ovoid to lanceoloid before opening, broadly ovoid to nearly globose when open, 5–8cm, pale red-brown to creamy brown, sessile or on stalks to 1cm, scales with dark red-brown border on adaxial surface distally;
apophyses slightly thickened, low, rhombic, low cross-keeled;
umbo central, low-conic, with short, weak prickle, sometimes unarmed.
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.
=24.
=24.
Pinus serotina
Pinus taeda
Pinus serotina is fire successional and sprouts adventitiously after crown fires. It is part of a distinct forest type including Taxodium distichum (Linnaeus) Richard, Nyssa biflora Walter, Magnolia virginiana Linnaeus, Persea sp., and Ilex sp. Of good form when protected from fire, P. serotina then much resembles P. taeda, with which it hybridizes naturally. It is of increasing importance as pulpwood.
(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.)
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WildflowerSearch
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USDA Plants Database
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