Pinus Species, Arkansas Pine, Shortleaf Pine, Southern Yellow Pine

While doing a community volunteer trip around Peoria, I recognized the bark of this tree in a yard. It is a shocking find since even in ...Read MoreSt Louis it can appear a bit mangy after some winters. The tree growing here is about 20' tall and has developed a crown low at this height, obviously adjustments for the colder climate. In Peoria it survives and grows. During the growing season Shortleaf pine is attractive however in winter the leaves take on a yellow cast here and medium defoliation can be common. I don't know how someone here got a hold of this pine and planted it, kind of random. It was cool to see the tree again after moving away from the Carolinas in 2000.

Not as common here as the Loblolly pine, but I do love the form of this tree over the Loblolly. Tall stand-alone specimens are quite pic...Read Moreturesque and look like giant bonsais! I just love them and their look in the winter landscape :)

This is an evergreen native tree that grows to 80-100 feet in height with a trunk that can be 2-3 feet in diameter. When young it has a p...Read Moreyramidal shape, but, develops a small narrow crown with age. The bark is scaly-plated, red-brown and has resin pockets. The branches are spreading to ascending wth 2-year-old branchlets being slender, 5 mm or less and are greenish brown to red-brown. They age to gray and become rough and crack below the leafy portion. The red-brown buds are ovoid to cylindric.

It has 3 to 5" dark blue-green, needle-like leaves in groups of 2 to 3, which are straight to slightly twisted, gray- to yellow-green and with the margins finely serrulated. The male bloom clusters are yellowish-brown to pale pink with the females being light pink. They can be solitary or in clusters of 2 or 3. The pollen cones are cylindric, 15-20 mm, yellow- to pale purple-green. The yellow-brown to pale purple, 1.5 to 2.5" seed cones turn to gray, mature in 2 years and thus, stay on the tree over the winter. The cone scales are rounded at the tip, thin, with the exposed portions of the closed cone being reddish-brown. They have small, sharp, straight or curved spines. The 1/4 inch seeds are ellipsoid, gray to nearly black and winged. The 1/2 inch long wings are straw colored and sometimes have yellow-brown streaks.

In Texas, shortleaf pine grows in upland woods, fields and well-drained slopes and hills in the east Texas Pineywoods region. Additionly, it is found in the eastern U.S. from central New Jersey south and west to northern Florida, southern Missouri and eastern Oklahoma. Being the most cold hardy of the southern pines, it is also drought tolerant and wind resistant due to its long taproot which also makes it difficult to transplant. It adapts to various soil types, but likes well-drained, adidic, sandy soil the best.

It is an important food source for wildlife. The wood is moderately heavy, firm and well-suited for many uses. It is used as structural timbers, pulp and planing-mill products. It is sometimes used as an ornamental tree in the landscape; however, the needles, cones and dead branches drop off frequently which can be an aggravation.

A mostly Southern to Mid-southern tree with 2 and 3 needle clusters, which is very unusual.

Needles are 3" to 5" and twigs...Read More are about 1/4" thick. cones are egg shaped and 1 1/2" to 3" long and the prickles are weak, and don't hurt the hands when handled. Old cones are usually present on the treee.

Common in old fields and uplands. The young trees are said to produce root sprouts after a fire.