Pinus arizonica Engelm.
Leaves tufted at the ends of the branches, in 3—5-leaved clusters, stout, rigid, dark green, stomatiferous on their 3 faces, 5′—7′ long, deciduous during their third season. Fruit ovoid, horizontal, 2′—2½′ long, becoming light red-brown, with thin scales much thickened at the apex and armed with slender recurved spines; seeds full and rounded below, slightly compressed towards the apex, ⅛′ long, with a thick shell, their wings broadest above the middle, about ⅓′ long and ¼′ wide.
A tree, 80°—100° high, with a tall straight massive trunk 3°—4° in diameter, thick spreading branches forming a regular open round-topped or narrow pyramidal head, and stout branchlets orange-brown and pruinose when they first appear, becoming dark gray-brown. Bark on young trunks dark brown or almost black and deeply furrowed, becoming on old trees 1½′—2′ thick and divided into large unequally shaped plates separating on the surface into thin closely appressed light cinnamon-red scales. Wood light, soft, not strong, rather brittle, light red or often yellow, with thick lighter yellow or white sapwood; in Arizona occasionally manufactured into coarse lumber.
Distribution. High cool slopes on the sides of cañons of the mountain ranges of southern Arizona at elevations between 6000° and 8000°, sometimes forming nearly pure forests; more abundant and of its largest size on the mountains of Sonora and Chihuahua.
11. [Pinus palustris] Mill. Long-leaved Pine. Southern Pine.
Leaves in crowded clusters, forming dense tufts at the ends of the branches, slender, flexible, pendulous, dark green, 8′—18′ long, deciduous at the end of their second year. Flowers in very early spring before the appearance of the new leaves, male in short dense clusters, dark rose-purple; female just below the apex of the lengthening shoot in pairs or in clusters of 3 or 4, dark purple. Fruit cylindric-ovoid, slightly curved, nearly sessile, horizontal or pendant, 6′—10′ long, with thin flat scales rounded at apex and armed with small reflexed prickles, becoming dull brown; in falling leaving a few of the basal scales attached to the stem; seeds almost triangular, full and rounded on the sides, prominently ridged, about ½′ long, with a thin pale shell marked with dark blotches on the upper side, and wings widest near the middle, gradually narrowed to a very oblique apex, about 1¾′ long and 7/16′ wide.
A tree, 100°—120° high, with a tall straight slightly tapering trunk usually 2°—2½° or occasionally 3° in diameter, stout slightly branched gnarled and twisted limbs covered with thin dark scaly bark and forming an open elongated and usually very irregular head one third to one half the length of the tree, thick orange-brown branchlets, and acute winter-buds covered by elongated silvery white lustrous scales divided into long spreading filaments forming a cobweb-like network over the bud. Bark of the trunk 1/16′—½′ thick, light orange-brown, separating on the surface into large closely appressed papery scales. Wood heavy, exceedingly hard, strong, tough, coarse-grained, durable, light red to orange color, with very thin nearly white sapwood; largely used as “southern pine” or “Georgia pine” for masts and spars, bridges, viaducts, railway-ties, fencing, flooring, the interior finish of buildings, the construction of railway-cars, and for fuel and charcoal. A large part of the naval stores of the world is produced from this tree, which is exceedingly rich in resinous secretions.
Distribution. Generally confined to a belt of late tertiary sands and gravels stretching along the coast of the Atlantic and Gulf states and rarely more than 125 miles wide, from southeastern Virginia to the shores of Indian River and the valley of the Caloosahatchee River, Florida, and along the Gulf coast to the uplands east of the Mississippi River, extending northward in Alabama to the southern foothills of the Appalachian Mountains and to central and western Mississippi (Hinds and Adams Counties); west of the Mississippi River to the valley of the Trinity River, Texas, and through eastern Texas and western Louisiana nearly to the northern borders of this state.