Pinus palustris
longleaf pine
As the name implies, longleaf pine has the longest needles of any native North American pine. The needles grow in bundles of three and can reach a length of 18 inches (45 cm) and gracefully droop from course, stubby branches of a mature tree. New seedlings don't put a lot of effort toward quick growth and can stay in a "grass stage" for a decade or more (see photo).
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Longleaf
Pine Habitat and Culture
(silvics courtesy of Silvics Manual, USFS)
Fire
Effects On Longleaf Pine
(courtesy of U.S. Forest Service, Fire Effects)
From Virginia Tech
w/Photos
(Big List courtesy of VT Dendrology)
Species
Documentation and Data
(The BEST conifer data on the Internet, Gymnosperm
Database, Editor C. J. Earle)
North American Timber Types
(courtesy About Forestry)
The Great American
Coniferous Forest
(courtesy About Forestry)
Recent Champion: 120' height, 66' spread, 127" circumf., Bibb County,
Georgia
National Register of Big
Trees
Longleaf
Pine Images
(courtesy of ForestryImages.org)
Image
(images courtesy Kim Nix and Forestry at About.com)
Buy a
Pine Online
(Nurseries selling seedlings online)
Range Map
-The native range of longleaf pine, USFS.
Quick Stats
Common Names: American pitch pine, Amerikaanse
pitchpine, broom pine, brown pine, fat pine, figured-tree,
Florida longleaf pine, Florida pine, Florida yellow pine,
Georgia heart pine, Georgia longleaf pine, Georgia pine,
Georgia pitch pine, Georgia yellow pine, Gulf Coast pitch
pine, hard pine, heart pine, hill pine, langbarrig tall, longleaf,
longleaf pine, long-leaf pitch pine, longleaf yellow pine,
longleaf yellow pine, longleaved pitch pine, longstraw pine,
madera pino, moeras-pijn, North Carolina pitch pine,
palustris pine, pin de Boston, pin des marais, pino del sur,
pino giallo, pino grasso, pino palustre, pino pantano, pino
pece, pino tea, pino tea roja, pitch pine, pitchpin, pitchpin
americain, red pine, Rosemary pine, soderns gul-all, southern
hard pine, southern heart pine, southern pine, southern pitch
pine, southern yellow pine, sump-all, sumpf kiefer,
sydstaternas gul-tall, tea pine, Texas longleaf pine, Texas
yellow pine turpentine pine, yellow pine.
Habitat: It usually grows in even-aged pure or mixed stands on less fertile and drier soils than other pines.
Description: At one time the longleaf pine forest may have occupied as much as 24 million ha (60 million acres), although by 1985 less than 1.6 million ha (4 million acres) remained.
Uses: A premier timber and naval stores tree
