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Pinus virginiana - (image 1 of 4)

Taxonomy

Family: Pinacea

Habitat

Dry, sterile or sandy soil.

Associates

Distribution

Southern NY to southern IN, south to GA, AL, and northeast MS.

Morphology

Upright, evergreen conifer to 30 m, usually smaller (to 10 m); crown spreading, often irregular, with long, horizontal branches; bark becoming dark red-brown to grayish, furrowed into thick plates in older trees; twigs purplish-brown, or glaucous and purplish-gray; winter buds less than 1 cm, very resinous, pale red-brown; leaves in pairs, persisting 2-4 years, green, becoming yellowish in winter, stiff, slightly twisted, 4-8 cm long and about 1 mm thick, margin with minute teeth, apex acute; cones dark red-brown, oblong-conic, 4-7 cm long, opening at maturity but persisting for several years; apophysis elevated, the umbo strongly raised, with a straight, slender spine 1-3 mm; seeds 1.5-2 cm long.

Notes

Flowers NA

Wetland indicator: NA

These pictures were taken in southern NJ where this species occurs mixed with P. echinata and P. rigida in pine barrens. It differs from those two species in that the needles are shorter (4-7 cm) and consistently in pairs (rather than 3's or a mix of 2's and 3's).

References

Carter, Katherine K. and A.G. Snow, Jr. Pinus virginiana Mill. Virginia Pine
In R.M. Burns and B.H. Honkala (eds.), Silvics of North America, Vol. 1, Conifers, U.S.D.A.
For. Serv. Agric. Handbk. 654, Washington, D.C.

Gleason, Henry A. and A. Cronquist. 1991. Manual of Vascular Plants of Northeastern United States and Adjacent Canada. Second Ed.

The New York Botanical Garden. Bronx, NY

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