OF Ohio 



31 



SHORT-LEAF PINE 



Pinus echinata. Miller 



THE Short-leaf Pine, also called Yellow Pine and Hard 

 Pme, is one of the most important trees of the South, 

 extending northward to New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and 

 southeastern Ohio. 



The needle-Iike leaves are slender, flexible, dark-bluish 

 green, 3 to 4 inches 

 long, usually in clus- 

 ters of 2 or 3, some- 

 times 4. They per- 

 sist for 2 to 5 years. 



The cones are 

 short-stalked, conical 

 when closed, oval 

 when open, about 2 

 inches long. Cone- 

 scales are armed with 

 weak prickles. 



The bark is red- 

 dish-brown, ^ to 1 

 inch thick, divides 

 into larger rectangu- 

 lar plates which peel 

 off in film-like scales. 

 The twigs are pale 

 t o purplish -brown 

 and circular in cross- 

 section. 



SHORT-LEAF PINE 



The wood is moderately hard, strong, resinous, yellowish 

 to dark brown. It is used in general construction, manufac- 

 tured into lumber, boxes, crates and other containers, also 

 mine ties and mine props. 



The Short-Leaf Pine ranges from central Pennsylvania, 

 southeastern New York through New Jersey to Florida, west 

 to Kansas and southeastern Texas. It occurs locally in 

 southeastern Ohio, being most abundant in Scioto County. 

 It is a promising tree for reforesting the worn out and aban- 

 doned fields within its natural range in Ohio. It has a 

 better form and produces higher quality wood than Pitch 

 Pine. Under favorable conditions it reaches a height of 100 

 feet, a diameter of 3 feet, and produces clean stems with 

 little taper, which are often as "straight as a gun barrel." 



