ILLINOIS TREES: SELECTION, PLANTING, AND CARE 



97 



Fig. 88. — The shrublike mountain pine has two stout, twisted needles 

 in a bundle (right inset). Left inset shows numerous bundles of needles 

 attached to the tip portion of a branch. 



long. The bright reddish-brown bark is irregularly divided into 

 broad, flat ridges by a network of shallow fissures. The coarse- 

 grained, weak, brittle wood is used for interior finishing and gen- 

 eral construction purposes. 



Pitch pine is a tall tree, with an open, irregular head of 

 short, horizontal branches, that grows to a height of 50-75 feet. 

 The rigid, spreading, dark green needles are 3-5 inches long 

 and three in a bundle. The crowded spikes of pollen-bearing 

 cones are yellow or rarely purple. The seed-bearing cones re- 

 quire two years to mature and develop as do those of red pine. 

 They are oval shaped, 2-314 inches long, often clustered on raised 

 or short, stout stems, and persist for many years. Each scale has 

 a sharp prickle and bears two terminally winged seeds. The 

 reddish-brown bark is broken into broad, scaly ridges by deep fis- 

 sures. Pitch pine will grow on dry, sandy or rocky soils too poor 

 to support most other trees, and the old trees are frequently pic- 

 turesque. 



Austrian pine is a large, massive-appearing tree which grows 

 to a height of 60-90 feet, and has numerous rough branches 

 placed regularly around the trunk. The straight, slender, long, 

 rigid, dark green needles are 3-7 inches long and two in a bun- 

 dle. The pollen-bearing cones form at the base of current-season 



