12. [Pinus caribæa] Morelet. Slash Pine. Swamp Pine.
Pinus heterophylla Sudw.
Leaves stout, in crowded 2 and 3-leaved clusters, dark green and lustrous, marked by numerous bands of stomata on each face, 8′—12′ long, deciduous at the end of their second season. Flowers in January and February before the appearance of the new leaves, male in short crowded clusters, dark purple; female lateral on long peduncles, pink. Fruit ovoid or ovoid-conic, reflexed during its first year, pendant, 2′—6′ long, with thin flexible flat scales armed with minute incurved or recurved prickles, becoming dark rich lustrous brown; seeds almost triangular, full and rounded on the sides, 1⅙′—1¼′ long, with a thin brittle dark gray shell mottled with black, and dark brown wings ¾′—1′ long, ¼′ wide, their thickened bases encircling the seeds and often covering a large part of their lower surface.
A tree, often 100° high, with a tall tapering trunk 2½°—3° in diameter, heavy horizontal branches forming a handsome round-topped head, and stout orange-colored ultimately dark branchlets. Bark ¾′—½′ thick, and separating freely on the surface into large thin scales. Wood heavy, exceedingly hard, very strong, durable, coarse-grained, rich dark orange color, with thick nearly white sapwood; manufactured into lumber and used for construction and railway-ties. Naval stores are largely produced from this tree.
Distribution. Coast region of South Carolina southward over the coast plain to the keys of southern Florida and along the Gulf coast to eastern Louisiana (Saint Tammany, Washington, southern Tangipahoa and eastern Livingston Parishes); common on the Bahamas, on the Isle of Pines, and on the lowlands of Honduras and eastern Guatemala; in the coast region of the southern states gradually replacing the Long-leaved Pine, Pinus palustris, Mill.
13. [Pinus tæda] L. Loblolly Pine. Old Field Pine.
Leaves slender, stiff, slightly twisted, pale green and somewhat glaucous, 6′—9′ long, marked by 10—12 rows of large stomata on each face, deciduous during their third year. Flowers opening from the middle of March to the first of May; male crowded in short spikes, yellow; female lateral below the apex of the growing shoot, solitary or clustered, short-stalked, yellow. Fruit oblong-conic to ovoid-cylindric, nearly sessile, 2′—6′ long, becoming light reddish brown, with thin scales rounded at the apex and armed with short stout straight or reflexed prickles, opening irregularly and discharging their seeds during the autumn and winter, and usually persistent on the branches for another year; seeds rhomboidal, full and rounded, ¼′ long, with a thin dark brown rough shell blotched with black, and produced into broad thin lateral margins, encircled to the base by the narrow border of their thin pale brown lustrous wing broadest above the middle, 1′ long, about ¼′ wide.
A tree, generally 80°—100° high, with a tall straight trunk usually about 2° but occasionally 5° in diameter, short thick much divided branches, the lower spreading, the upper ascending and forming a compact round-topped head, and comparatively slender glabrous branchlets brown tinged with yellow during their first season and gradually growing darker in their second year. Bark of the trunk ¾′—1½′ thick, bright red-brown, and irregularly divided by shallow fissures into broad flat ridges covered with large thin closely appressed scales. Wood weak, brittle, coarse-grained, not durable, light brown, with orange-colored or often nearly white sapwood, often composing nearly half the trunk; largely manufactured into lumber, used for construction and the interior finish of buildings.