TREE AND SHRUBSLeaf it to me

The Southern Yellow Pine Tree

Belonging to the Pinaceae family, the Southern Yellow Pine is a pine tree that is native to the south-eastern United States. It is found alongside the coastal plains from east Texas to south Virginia, and also extends into central and northern Florida. The Southern Yellow Pine is often called the Longleaf Yellow Pine, the Longleaf Pine or as the Pitch Pine.

Appearance

This pine tree can reach heights of thirty five meters and usually has a trunk that is twenty eight inches in diameter. The bark of this tree is reddish brown and quite scaly. It has dark green, needle-like leaves that are present in bundles of three. They are usually twisted and quite long, up to eighteen inches in length.

This tree can take at least one hundred years to reach its full size and once it does, it can live a further five hundred years. When they are young they grow a rather long taproot, and by the time they mature they have an extensive, spreading later root system from this tap root that also develops many ‘sinker’ roots.

Flowers and fruits

The male and female flowers are in the form of seed cones and they emerge during the growing season before the leaf buds emerge. Pollen cones form in the buds in July, but seed conelets are formed later on in August during a short time period. Pollination generally occurs the spring after these processes. The female seed cone matures twenty months after pollination. They become yellowish brown in colour when mature and they have a tiny but sharp spine that points downwards on the middle of each scale.

Growth

This pine tree tends to grow quite well on well drained, sandy soil, and usually in pure stands. It can sometimes occur in clay soil, which happens in northern Alabama. New seedlings actually look nothing like trees and instead look more like a green fountain of small needles. This appearance is present during the grass stage. This stage lasts anywhere form five to twelve years and during it the growth of the tree is very slow. The tree may take a few years to even reach ankle height. After it reaches this height, it has a sudden growth spurt, which is helped along if there is no tree canopy above it that hinders sunlight from reaching it.

Reaction to fire

One of the specialities of this tree is how highly resistant it is to fire. Over and over again, natural wildfire has helped this tree form entire forests or savannas of its own species because while other types of trees are killed, this one survives and takes advantage of the reduced competition for nutrients and sunlight. Even in the grass stage it can withstand fire. It can burn off the tips of the needles, but it cannot reach the bud due to the tightly packed needle bases which protect it.

Uses

The yellow wood of the Southern Yellow Pine is used for pulp and lumber. The virgin timber of this tree was used to make boards many years ago. Many salvage businesses now thrive by finding these boards at demolition projects and using them once more to floor upscale homes.

About the Author

http://www.dntnursery.com
TN Nursery is a state certified tree nursery specializing in native plants and trees, shrubs, fern, and perennials as well as pond plants and wetland mitigation species.

Hibiscus: moscheutos,siryacus and coccineus

Native Trees of the Southeast: An Identification Guide $18.71 The diversity of woody plants in the Southeast is unparalleled in North America. Native Trees of the Southeast is a practical, compact field guide for the identification of the more than 225 trees native to the region, from the Carolinas and eastern Tennessee south through Georgia into northern Florida and west through Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Arkansas into eastern Texas. For confident…

Lone Star Field Guide to Wildflowers, Trees, and Shrubs of Texas (Lone Star Field Guides) $16.08 With the Rocky Mountains to the west, the Great Plains to the North, the Chihuahan Desert to the south and the Gulf of Mexico to the east, Texas lies at the biological crossroads of North America. More than 5,000 flowering plants, from tiny herbs to towering trees, grow in these vast and diverse habitats. This book describes more than 600 species of the most common Texas wildflowers, trees, shrubs…

Plants of Deep South Texas: A Field Guide to the Woody and Flowering Species (Perspectives on South Texas, sponsored by Texas A&M University-Kingsville) $19.72 A Field Guide to the Woody and Flowering Species Covering the almost three million acres of southernmost Texas known as the Lower Rio Grande Valley, this user-friendly guide is an essential reference for nature enthusiasts, farmers and ranchers, professional botanists, and anyone interested in the plant life of Texas. Alfred Richardson and Ken King offer abundant photographs and short description…