Trees of Alabama and the Southeast Home Page

Needles are fascicled, in groups of 3, very long (about 17 inches long), drooping, evergreen, and flexible. Foliage is arranged in tufts on ends of stout branches. Twigs are red-brown and scaly with prominent silvery white buds. Bark is red-brown and plated. Cones are about 11 inches long, brown-gray and armed with prickles. Longleaf pine is found on well-drained sandy soils and on swamp edges in the southeastern Coastal Plain and is intolerant of shade.  The commercially important wood is used for pulpwood, plywood and construction lumber.  This tree was an important source of turpentine and resin.  The foliage is used as pine straw.  It is also a nesting tree for red-cockaded woodpecker.

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All text and photographs are intended for educational purposes only and are not for commercial use in any form.  All photographs are copyrighted by the named photographer(s), text copyright by Lisa Samuelson. © 2005, all rights reserved. Photographs by Mike Hogan.