Shape oblong, 50-100 ft. tall. Trunk ponderous, often clean and branchless high up. Bark deep ruddy brown, broken in age into broad armor-like plates built up of flaky scales. Needles 3-6 in. long in clusters of 2, deep olive green, slender. Cones very small. Range: Staten Island to s. Ga., and centr. Miss., not on the s. coast plain or in high Appalachians or bottom lands of Mississippi valley. Again in Ark., sw. Mo., ne. Tex., sw. Ill., Ky. and Tenn. Lumbermen recognize two varieties of this important tree, the upland wood which is hard and heavy, much valued for interior finish, and a weak, fast-growing type from lowlands. BLACK PINE (Pinus rigida) has dark needles in threes, 3-4½ in. long, and cones 2-2½ in. long, ranging from Me. to n. Ga. and w. Tenn.; this is a picturesque, short, dark, contorted tree without much timber value.
Loblolly Pine
LOBLOLLY PINE
(Pinus Taeda)
Shape high branched, broad crowned; up to 150 ft. tall. Bark rough, gray-brown, or ruddy, separating in big, long scales. Branches wide spreading, at maturity confined to top of stem. Needles slender, rigid, lustrous light green, 3 or 4 in a cluster, 6 in. long. Cones large with thick bristly scales. Range: Del. to n. Fla., rarely reaching the Appalachians except in the Virginias: along the Gulf to e. Tex., n. in Mississippi Basin to Tenn. The wood is soft, coarse grained and brittle in the case of second-growth trees. Formerly virgin Loblolly timber (now rare) was among the strongest and most durable of American pine woods. The man-of-war “Roanoke” carried an immense mast cut from N. C. Loblolly that had 302 annual rings; this tree regularly furnished the best naval construction material.
Long Leaf Pine
LONG LEAF PINE
(Pinus palustris)
Shape spindling, a little broader at the crown, 50-100 ft. tall. Bark smooth, thin, with red-brown plates. Branches short, horizontal, scaly. Needles in threes, 10-15 in. long, gleaming and beautiful. Cones 6-10 in. long. Range: Norfolk Va. along the coast to centr. Fla.; far inland in the Gulf States, up to e. Tenn. The wood, strong and durable when not tapped for turpentine, is used for interior finish, bridges, trestles, masts, spars and especially for railway carriages. This valuable tree, with the longest needles and largest cones in the eastern states, is the great tar, pitch, and turpentine tree that has supplied the world with most of its naval stores. With the vanishing of virgin timber, the flow of turpentine has become greatly diminished. SLASH PINE (Pinus caribaea) is a similar, very slender spindly tree with small high crown, which forms monotonous open grooves from S. C. to Fla. and Cuba.
