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Pinus palustris Mill.
Longleaf Pine
Florida native
A common tree of sandhills, mesic flatwoods and savannas throughout the panhandle and north Florida, and down the peninsula to Lake Okeechobee. The range extends through the southeastern coastal plain from Texas to Virginia, plus Arkansas. Absent from the Mississippi delta.
Pinus palustris has needles from 20 to 50 cm (8-20 in.) long, mostly in fasicles of three, with leaf sheaths longer than 1.3 cm (~1/2 in.). The needles extend from the branches in large globular clusters. Trees grow to 40 meters (130 ft.) tall.
Longleaf pine forest was the predominant ecosystem in the southeastern coastal plain. Frequent fires kept competing pine species relegated to wetter habitats, such as along rivers and ponds. One of the primary longleaf pine habitats is sandhill, where the fires and the naturally widely spaced longleaf pines provide an open understory that many herbaceous plants could take advantage of, resulting in a diverse selection of wildflowers.
Pinus palustris is a member of the Pinaceae - Pine family.
Other species of the Pinus genus in the Wild Florida Photo database:
Pinus clausa - SAND PINE
Pinus elliottii - SLASH PINE
Pinus taeda - LOBLOLLY PINE
Atlas of Florida Vascular Plants (Institute for Systemic Botany) profile for this species
iNaturalist profile for this species
USDA Plant Profile for this species
Date record last modified: Aug 24, 2023
