Appendices & Glossary - Botanical Research Institute of Texas

1322 APPENDIX TWENTY-ONE/COMMERCIALLY IMPORTANT TIMBER TREES OF EAST TEXAS
PINUS TAEDA L. LOBLOLLY PINE
(PINACEAE, PINE FAMILY)
Other Common Names: OLD-FIELD PINE, ROSEMARY PINE, BULL PINE, INDIAN PINE, LONGSTRAW PINE.
Form and Size: large tree to 46 m; trunk to 1.6 m in diameter; crown broadly conic to rounded.
Leaves: needles almost always 3 per bundle (very rarely 2), (10–)12–18(–23) cm long, deep yellow-green to gray-green, not
glossy; bundle sheath 1–2.5 cm long.
Buds: terminal buds 1–1.2(–2) cm long, usually less than 1 cm broad, lance-cylindrical, pale red-brown.
Seed Cones: solitary or in small clusters, nearly terminal, 6–12 cm long, mostly dull yellow-brown including the apophysis
(= exposed, thickened, apical portion of each seed cone scale), sessile to nearly sessile, the scales with a stout-based,
sharp prickle, maturing in 2 years.
Pollen Cones: cylindrical, 20–40 mm long at time of pollen release, yellow to yellow-brown.
Bark: variable, on young trees scaly and nearly black, later with irregular, brownish blocks, or on old trees, red-brown,
forming square or irregularly rectangular, scaly plates, without resin pockets.
Wood: sapwood nearly white to yellowish or orange-white or pale yellow, thin to very thick, often composing nearly half
the trunk; heartwood distinct, ranging through shades of yellow and orange to reddish brown or light brown, weak
(less durable than that of P. palustris), brittle, coarse-grained, with resinous odor and distinct growth rings.
Habitat: mesic lowlands and swamp borders to dry uplands, in presettlement times largely in association with hardwoods,
but now typically in monoculture plantations.
Range: native primarily to the Pineywoods with populations as far w as Lamar Co. in the Red River drainage and to
Bastrop Co. (“Lost Pines”) further south; cultivated widely, and escaped further west; widespread in the southeastern
U.S. from DE south to FL west to OK and TX.
Principal Uses: lumber used for interior finish of buildings, general construction, and pulp for paper products. This is the
most widely harvested and widely used species of tree in the southern United States. Most general construction lumber
available today is LOBLOLLY PINE. It is also the principal softwood used to make paper. This species is the most commercially
significant tree in Texas.
Historical Uses: bridges, freight cars, barrel shooks, boxes, crating, kindling (light’d knots), and tobacco hogsheads.
Other Significant Information: although inferior to P. echinata in hardness, P. taeda is by far the most important timber
tree species in Texas and in the southern U.S. as a whole, primarily due to its fast growth rate, with trees attaining
heights up to 75 ft. in 30 years—growing at 3.5 ft./yr when young. Commercial planting of this species has transformed
much of the East Texas landscape into LOBLOLLY PINE monocultures. In contrast, prior to the coming of Europeans, P.
taeda is thought to have rarely occurred in pure stands anywhere in the West Gulf Coastal Plain (LONGLEAF and SHORT-
LEAF PINE were much more abundant). Several genetically altered strains of LOBLOLLY PINE now exist which favor even
faster growth and are resistant to rust fungi. This pine can be damaged or killed by the southern pine beetle
(Dendroctonus frontalis Zimmermann). From the ecological standpoint, human-induced changes in species composition
within forests have created conditions conducive for bark beetle outbreaks. The “Lost Pines,” an area of ca. 70
square miles of loblolly pine-oak woodland isolated approximately 100 miles (162 km) west of the main body of East
Texas pines, occurs in Bastrop County; this population is probably the remnant of a more extensive Ice Age forest persisting
due to special soil conditions. The common name LOBLOLLY comes from one of the meanings of that word, “mud
puddle,” in reference to the sometimes wet habitat of this species. Hybrids are known between P. taeda and both P.
echinata and P. palustris. Pinus palustris could be confused with P. elliottii Englem. (SLASH PINE), a species that occurs
natively in the southeastern U.S. as far west as eastern LA (but is planted in TX); however, P. elliottii can be distinguished
by the following characters: needles 2–3 per bundle, at least some 2, 15–20(–23) cm long, usually dark green
and glossy; terminal bud silvery brown, 1.5–2 mm long; apophysis lustrous as if varnished.
Recognition in the Field: needles almost always 3 per bundle, (10–)12–18(–23) cm long, deep yellow-green to gray-green,
not glossy; terminal bud reddish brown, 1–1.2(–2) cm long, apophysis (= exposed, thickened, apical portion of each seed
cone scale) dull.