NC Native Plant Society:
Plant Details

Pinus palustris

Longleaf Pine, Southern Pine

Scientific Name:	Pinus palustris
Genus:	Pinus
Species Epithet:	palustris
Common Name:	Longleaf Pine, Southern Pine
Plant Type	Tree
Life Cycle	Perennial
Plant Family	Pinaceae (Pine Family)
Native/Alien:	NC Native
Invasive Status:	^(*Key)
Size:	72-100 ft., More than 100 ft.
Light:	Sun - 6 or more hours of sun per day
Soil Moisture:	Dry, Moist
Bloom Time:	March, April
Growing Area:	Piedmont, Sandhills, Coastal Plain
Habitat Description:	Formerly throughout the Coastal Plain, Sandhills, and lower Piedmont, on a wide variety of soils (sandy, loamy, clayey, or peaty), from very dry to very wet conditions, in savannas,woodlands, and forests affected by relatively frequent natural (lightning caused) fires (likely augmented by native Americans), now reduced to less than a tenth of its former abundance by a variety of forces, including turpentining, timbering, free-range hogs, fire suppression, and “site conversion” by foresters to other trees, now extremely rare in VA and north of the Neuse River in NC, still occurring in some abundance in the outer Coastal Plain from Carteret County, NC south into GA, in the Bladen Lakes area of Bladen and Cumberland counties, and in the Sandhills of Harnett, Hoke, Scotland, Richmond, Moore, Anson, and Montgomery counties, NC and south into GA.
Leaf Arrangement:	Fascicled (Pines)
Leaf Retention:	Evergreen
Leaf Type:	Leaves needle-like or scale-like
Leaf Form:	Simple
Life Cycle:	Perennial
Wildlife Value:	Highest Wildlife Value
Landscape Value:	Highly Recommended and Available
State Rank:	S5: Secure ^(*Key)
Global Rank:	G5 - Secure ^(*Key)
Notes:	Adapted to fire. Juvenile stage looks like a clump of grass. Critical nesting habitat for the rare Red-cockaded Woodpecker.
Long-leaf Pine stand with young saplings. New Hanover County, NC Bettina Darveaux
Seed cones mature 2 years after pollination and measure 6 to 10 inches. Cone scales contain a reflexed prickle. Carolina Beach State Park, New Hanover County, NC Bettina Darveaux
The "grass" stage. Eastwood Preserve, Moore County, NC Bettina Darveaux
Has the longest needles of any of our pines. Nick’s Creek Preserve, Moore County, NC Bettina Darveaux
Links:	USDA PLANTS Database Record