Longleaf Pine

Part of an occasional series on the species of pine trees in Florida.

There are 7 types of native pine in Florida:  Longleaf, shortleaf, slash, loblolly, sand, pond, and spruce. I want to write a piece on each as I have a little time to research them. 

Longleaf pine (Pinus palustris) was once king of Florida pines. Named for its very long needles that can reach over 18 inches in length. It's found throughout the south from Virginia to Florida to Texas. It's one of the 4 pines (along with shortleaf, slash, and loblolly) that can be sold as Southern Pine in lumber stores.

Historic longleaf pine range

One of the early uses for longleaf pine was for pine weave baskets. Remnants of baskets thousands years old have been found in Florida. The baskets could be used with just needles or clay could be packed in the bottom and sunbaked to make them waterproof.

Modern longleaf pine basket made by my sister-in-law

Longleaf pine forests are known for their extreme biodiversity. In nature (but usually not on pine plantations) they tend to grow widely separated. This allows sufficient sunlight to reach the forest floor for other plants to grow in their shade. Between the pine and the understory plants they can support many reptiles, birds, and mammals.

Longleaf pines are fire resistant. Their early stage of life is called the grass stage. During this time the tree looks more like grass than a tree. This stage lasts 7-15 years as the tree creates a taproot system that goes down up to 3 meters. During this stage the tree above ground can be burned with no damage to the root. It will continue to sprout above ground when the ground cools. This time it's getting ready for the growth above ground.

Grass stage pine tree

After the grass stage comes the bottlebrush stage. This is the stage that it is in the most danger from fire. A very hot fire may kill the tree at this stage. But this stage doesn't last long as it goes through a growth spurt and grows scaly, protective bark after a few years. It can live up to 300 years as an adult after leaving this stage.

Bottlebrush stage

The longleaf pine has been a part of Florida industry even before Florida was a part of the United States. Lumber and pitch for sailing ships may be the first commercial use by Europeans. Later the turpentine industry would develop and use the sap gathered from longleaf pines as a raw material. There are still trees alive today with the "cat face" scars from the turpentine industry. Southern Pine lumber is especially suited outdoor projects. Its cellular structure allows chemical treatments to attach and keep the wood from rotting. 

Cat Face

But today little longleaf pine is being planted commercially. Slash and loblolly pines grow faster and are therefore more commercially desirable. But the federal government along with several southern states are trying to recreate longleaf pine ecosystems. Their goal is to more than double the current acreage dedicated to longleaf pine:

The 15-year goal for this Conservation Plan is an increase in longleaf from 3.4 to 8.0 million acres, with half of this acreage targeted in the 16 range-wide "Significant Landscapes" in ways to support a majority of ecological and species' needs. The remainder will be either in Significant Sites or distributed across the range.

There was a time in central and northern Florida that if you saw a pine tree chances were very good it was a longleaf pine. Not anymore. Development and faster growing pines have taken away most of the longleaf range. But this was once the most common tree in the Southern US and much of the wildlife is adapted to longleaf pine forests. Hopefully the effort to restore will be successful.