The dark-colored [BARK] is deeply furrowed and often attains a thickness of as much as 2 inches on large-sized trees. The needle-like LEAVES, 6 to 9 inches long, are borne three (occasionally two) in a cluster. In the spring bright green clumps of needles grow at the end of branches and give the tree a luxuriant appearance. The “[FRUIT]”, a cone, ripens in the autumn of the second year and is 3 to 5 inches long. Many seeds with wings an inch long are shed during the fall and early winter.
The resinous WOOD is coarse-grained. There is marked contrast, as in other yellow pines, between the bands of springwood and summerwood. The wood of second-growth trees has a wide range of uses such as building material, box shooks, barrel staves, basket veneers, pulpwood, lath, mine props, piling, and fuel.
SHORTLEAF PINE (Yellow Pine)
Pinus echinata Mill.
Shortleaf pine is an important pine over a wide area in Northeast Texas, and is common in other parts of the “Piney Woods.” Essentially a tree of the hilly section, growing in pure stands and in mixture with [hardwoods], the mature tree has a tall straight stem and an [oval] [crown], reaching a height of about 100 feet and a diameter of about 2½ feet. Unlike other southern pines, young shortleaf pine trees may reproduce by sprouts when cut or burned back.
SHORTLEAF PINE ([Fruit], natural size; leaves, two-thirds natural size)
The [BARK] is brownish-red, broken into rectangular plates; it is thinner and lighter-colored than that of loblolly pine.
The needle-like LEAVES are in clusters of two or three (3 to 5 inches long), slender, flexible, and dark blue-green. The “[FRUIT]”, a cone, or bur, the smallest of the Texas pines, are 1½ to 2½ inches long, [oblong], with small sharp [prickles]; are generally clustered, and often hold to the twigs for 3 or 4 years. The small mottled seeds have a wing which is broadest near the center.
The WOOD of old trees is rather heavy and hard, yellow-brown or orange, fine-grained, and less resinous than that of the other important Southern pines. It is used for finishing, general construction, veneers, paper pulp, excelsior, cooperage, mine props, and other purposes.