Pond Pine

(Pinus serotina)

Pond Pine (Pinus serotina)

Identifying Characters: Pond Pine may usually be identified by the long needles in bundles of 3, the globular, egg-shaped cones, and its occurrence on poorly drained soils.

Similar Species: The long needles and the globular cones will separate Pond Pine for all other eastern pines with 3 needles per bundle.

Measurements: The average height of Pond Pine is 30-30 feet, although occasional individuals reach 50-70 feet.

Cones: Cones egg-shaped, strongly rounded; cones sessile or nearly sessile and 2 to 2.5 inches long; cone scales thin, almost flat, with a thin incurved, and typically, deciduous apical spine; cones very persistent.

Needles: Needles in bundles of 3 (rarely 4) and bundle sheath not shed after the first year; needles 6 to 8 inches long, slender, flexible, and dark yellow green.

Bark: Bark dark red-brown, fissured, and scaly.

Native Range: Pond Pine grows from Cape May, New Jersey, southward through the Coastal Plains of Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia to central Florida and southeastern Alabama. Within its native range, pond pine is most frequently found on wet or poorly drained sites. (Silvics of North America. 1990. Agriculture Handbook 654.)

Habitat: Pone Pine is most typical of is most common on poorly drained sites such as the edges of lakes, marshes, swamps, rivers, and lakes.