Got Pine Trees?

SOUTHERN YELLOW PINEs

Pine trees are conifers. Conifers are cone-bearing trees that are easy to identify because they don’t have broad leaves; they have needle-like leaves. However, it can be tough to tell the difference between pine trees, especially southern yellow pines. Four species of southern yellow pines live in Baldwin County: loblolly, longleaf, shortleaf and slash. Here are some ways to tell them apart:

• Loblolly pine - Pinus teed - has paler needles that range in length from 4–9 inches long, and occur in bundles of three. The loblolly pine is the most commercially important pine of the Southeast, where it is dominant on approximately 29 million acres and make

s up over one-half the standing pine volume. Loblolly pine remains important today for lumber and pulpwood because it grows straight and tall, has fewer knots, and is less disease-prone than other pines.

• Longleaf pine has scaly red-brown bark and dark green needles that range in length from 8–18 inches and also occur in bundles of three - often twisted. Longleaf Pine prefers well drained soil.

• Shortleaf pine - Pinus echinata - has leaves from 3 to 6 inches long that occur in bundles of two or three. It’s growth pattern tends to be open and airy.

• If you see a pine tree very close to the water’s edge, it’s probably a slash pine. “Slash” is an old-time word for wetland, and slash pines don’t mind wet feet. Their leaves grow in bundles of two or three.

It is a fun fact that if you fit the leaves of one bundle together, they form a perfectly round needle. In bundles of two, each leaf a half-circle, and in bundles of three, each leaf is a third of a circle.