Issued August 30, 1910. 



United States Department of Agriculture, 



FOREST SERVICE CIRCULAR 183. 

 HENRY S. GRAVES, Forester. 



FOREST PLANTING LEAFLET. 



Division of Fore 

 LOBLOLLY PINE (Pinus taeda) . University of Cali< 



LOCAL NAMES. 



Loblolly pine is the largest and most rapid-growing pine indige- 

 nous to the southeastern part of the United States, and one of the 

 most desirable trees for planting in that region. 



On account of the many different conditions under which it grows, 

 and the consequent differences in form, bark, grain of the wood, and 

 the proportion of sapwood, it not only has many local names, but 

 the different forms frequently pass under different names in the 

 same locality. The names most commonly given to it are longleaf 

 pine, used in eastern Virginia and in other places where the tree is 

 associated with pines having short needles ; sJiortleaf- pine, applied 

 when associated with longleaf pine; swamp pine and slash pine, 

 used to designate the place of growth, the latter name restricted to 

 the largest trees; old-field pine, indicating the place of growth; 

 sap pine and blackbark pine, applied to second-growth trees. Lob- 

 lolly pine is a name which originated in Mississippi and Louisiana, 

 and which designates the place of growth, loblolly being the local 

 name for a thicket swamp. Its lumber along the Atlantic coast is 

 generally marketed under the trade name of " North Carolina pine." 



FORM AND SIZE OF TREES GROWN IN PLANTATIONS. 



There are no old plantations, but the trees will have about the 

 same rate of growth in plantations as in the old-field stands and pro- 

 duce the same quality of wood. The usual range of size of second- 

 growth and old-field trees at 45 years of age is from 65 to 90 feet in 

 height and from 14 to 24 inches in diameter, and trees in plantations 

 can be expected to attain these proportions. In young trees the stem 

 continues through the crown without dividing, but as the tree grows 

 older the trunk usually divides into massive, spreading branches, 

 which form the upper part of the oval thin-foliaged crown. Mature 

 trees grown in old-field stands are characterized by slightly tapering 

 trunks which are destitute of branches fo two-thirds of the height 

 of the tree. The bark of rapid-growing young trees is very dark 

 brown and furrowed; that of older trees is red-brown, broken into 

 rectangular plates, which are from 2 to 3 inches thick near the 

 ground, but much thinner above. 

 54479 Cir. 18310 



