464 A HANDBOOK OF CONIFERS 



Oldfield Pine ; Sap Pine ; Shortleaf Pine ; Slash Pine ; Spruce Pine ; 

 Swamp Pine ; Torch Pine ; Virginia Pine ; Yellow Pine. 



A tree usually 90-110 ft. high with a girth of 6-8 ft., but 

 occasionally 130 ft. high and 12 ft. in girth. Bark reddish brown, 

 broken by irregular fissures into broad, flat, scaly ridges. Young 

 shoots without down, glaucous, becoming yellowish brown and 

 strongly ridged. Winter buds conic, |-| in. long, with light 

 brown, fringed, non-resinous scales which are more or less reflexed 

 at the apex and often persistent at the base of the shoot. Leaves 

 in threes, lasting 3-4 years, rigid, slightly twisted, 6-9 in. long, 

 tV in. wide, margins minutely toothed, apex sharp and horny, 

 pale green with stomatic lines on each surface, resin canals median, 

 basal sheath nearly 1 in. long. Cones lateral, or sometimes 

 sub-terminal, ovoid-oblong, 3-5 in. long, nearly sessile ; scales 

 oblong, about 1 in. long, the terminal portion Ught brown and 

 rhomboidal with a transverse elevated ridge ending in a stout- 

 based, reflexed spine. Seed rhomboidal, | in. long, dark brown, 

 mottled with black, distinctly ridged, wing about 1 in. long. 



The species is recognized amongst three-leaved pines with 

 non-resinous buds and persistent, reflexed bud scales, by its 

 glaucous shoots and spiny cone scales. 



Pinus Tceda is a native of the southern and eastern parts of 

 the United States from S. New Jersey to S. Arkansas, Oklahoma, 

 E. Texas and S.W. Tennessee. Like other pines of that region, 

 it is not suited to the English climate and although introduced 

 by Bishop Compton in 1741 it is rarely seen in Pineta. 



The wood shares with that of P. palustris, P. echinata, and 

 P. cubensis, the common name of yellow fine, and although the 

 timber of these trees varies considerably in strength and working 

 qualities, their general appearance and microscopic characters 

 are so similar that they cannot easily be separated. The best 

 grade of Loblolly pine is distinctly inferior to good grades of 

 P. palustris, although given first-class Loblolly pine and an inferior 

 grade of P. palustris, the former would probably prove to be the 

 better timber. Loblolly pine timber is soft, rather coarse-grained 

 and resinous, with conspicuous resin ducts. The heartwood is 

 light brown, the sapwood yellow, the proportion of the latter 

 being greater than in P. palustris. Growing in the same region 

 as P. palustris, Loblolly pine suffers by comparison, although the 

 two are often mixed. Judged on its merits. Loblolly pine is a 

 decidedly useful wood, and one that will find extended use in the 

 future. It makes excellent lumber for general carpentry, is used 

 for shipbuilding, masts, general construction and other purposes ; 

 but its chief use appears to be for railway sleepers, for, when 

 creosoted, it is very suitable for the work. The trees are some- 

 times tapped for resin, but it is said that the resin flows less freely 

 than that of P. palustris and that it thickens and becomes hard 



