SHORTLEAF PINE IN VIRGINIA 7 



with a slight mixture of other pines and of seedling and sprout 

 hardwoods. It meets with least competition and forms the purest 

 second-growth stands in the tier of southern counties west of Lun- 

 enburg county. It is not common north of the Rappahannock 

 river, and is infrequent on the Blue Ridge mountains and in the 

 Great Valley, while in Tidewater Virginia it grows only on the 

 best drained clay soils, and in these sections, on account of the com- 

 petition of other species, its second growth seldom occurs in pure 

 stands. 



NAMES AND DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS 



pine is also and more generally known as rosemary 

 pine, spruce pine, and yellow pine. The original growth is fre- 

 quently distinguished from the second growth in old fields under 

 the names of forest or woods pine. 



This tree is not to he confused with scrub or jack pine, 

 which is also called spruce pine. Scrub pine is a smaller and in- 

 ferior tree with a limby stem, and smooth, scaly bark. It is largely 

 replacing shortleaf pine in old fields in the northern portion of the 

 State and in the upper edge of the Piedmont in and near the 

 mountains, and is occasionally found mixed with shortleaf pine 

 southeastward as far as Brunswick county. Nor is it to be con- 

 fused with loblolly pine, which is known in extreme southern Vir- 

 ginia as .shortleaf pine and, where it occurs near the coast, as long- 

 leaf, swamp, foxtail, or slash pine. Loblolly pine is the common 

 pine on sandy soils in Tidewater Virginia, but it extends westward 

 in association with shortleaf pine to Brunswick, Chesterfield and 

 Louisa counties. The northern pitch, bull, or black pine of the 

 mountains, which is yet another tree, seldom forms second growth 

 in old fields. 



The cone and leaf differences of these trees will be a further 

 help in separating them : 



Shortleaf pine has cones (burrs) seldom more than 1 1-2 inches 

 long, and slender, straight needles, two or three together, twice as 

 long as the cones. 



Scrub pine has cones of about the same length as those of 

 shortleaf pine (1 1-2 inches) but they are relatively broader. The 

 needles are stout and twisted, with never more than two together, 

 and are about the same length as the cones. Frequently the cones 

 of scrub pine and shortleaf pine remain on the trees for many years 

 after opening. 



