FAMILY: PINACEAE
ALTERNATE COMMON NAME:
LEAVES: needles in fascicles of 3's, 8-18" long, length can overlap with Pinus elliottii but is consistently longer than the other Louisiana pines; needles are tufted towards tips of stobby branches (resembling pompoms); persistent 2-3 years
SEED CONE: cones 6-10” long, apophysis is dull reddish brown and wrinkly, umbo dorsal with prickle curved towards base of scale; a few basal scales remain attached to the branch when the cone is shed, thus cones on the ground are often missing their basal portions
SEEDS: seeds do not naturally de-wing; largest of southern pines; germinate in the fall
TWIGS: TWIGS: twigs are thick and abundantly covered in old scale-leaves; buds are large and silvery, especially conspicuous and candle-like in the spring, bud scales ciliate with silvery hairs
BARK: orange-brown scaly, becoming platy when older
FORM: large tree, to ca. 125’ tall and 2’ dbh, with a very clear straight bole on good well-drained sites, old trees can be short and “scraggly” on hydric flatwoods; crown often flat-topped on old trees; has a grass or broom stage which can last several years, during which time little stem growth occurs and root growth is extensive; grass stage seedlings resemble a clump of “monkey grass”, saplings resemble “Cousin It”; very fire-resistant during most stages of life; long-lived, to ca. 400 years
HABITAT: dry to xeric upland woodlands on sandy soils, hydric to mesic flatwoods on nutrient-poor silt loams, sometimes also on clayey uplands; adapted to frequent fire
WETLAND DESIGNATION: Facultative (FAC): Occurs in wetlands or non-wetlands of the Atlantic and Gulf Coast Plain Region
RANGE: Gulf and Atlantic Coastal Plains from southeast Virginia to Texas, also Alabama and Georgia Piedmont; longleaf pine systems originally occupied ca. 92 million acres [USGS Range Map]
USES: best southern pine for lumber, poles, kraft paper and paperboard (stronger than paper made from regular pulping processes); sinker logs are actively sought out, old warehouses are mined for beams; important naval stores producer, pine straw, ornamental
WILDLIFE: seeds eaten by birds and small mammals, germinating seeds eaten by ants, roots of seedlings eaten by hogs and pocket gophers; old trees with red heart rot provide nesting for red cockaded woodpeckers
Best Recognition Features:
- needles relatively long and in fascicles of 3, tufted on tips of stout twigs
- ong cones, those on ground often with some missing proximal scales
- arge silvery terminal buds
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