PONDEROSA PINE ([Fruit] and leaves, one-half natural size)
The needle-like LEAVES are in bundles of three and are mostly 5 to 8 inches long. The needles, massed toward the ends of [naked] branches, remain on the tree about 3 years.
The “[FRUIT]”, a short-stalked cone, is oval-shaped, reddish-brown, and armed with stout recurved [prickles].
The WOOD of this species, from trees in the commercial part of its range, is of excellent quality for lumber. The wood is hard, strong, and rather fine grained. The [heartwood] is light reddish-white and the [sapwood] nearly white. Lumber from this tree is widely used for house construction and furniture.
LOBLOLLY PINE
Pinus taeda L.
This fast-growing yellow pine is the most abundant and valuable species in Southeast Texas from Orange County west to Walker and Waller Counties. The species is also abundant northward to the Oklahoma line. Loblolly pine also constitutes the pine of the “Lost Pine Region” in the vicinity of Bastrop.
LOBLOLLY PINE ([Fruit] and leaves, one-half natural size)
Loblolly invades abandoned fields rapidly. For this reason it is often called old field pine. In the virgin forest of Texas, loblolly pine was most common along banks of streams. It is still the dominant pine on moist sites, but may also be found in relatively dry sites.