Meet the Loblolly Pine! 🌿

TERMINOLOGY TUESDAY 🌿
w/ the Florida Native Plant Society!

Meet the Loblolly Pine!

Loblolly Pine
Pinus taeda
Family: Pinaceae

This is one of the largest and fastest-growing of our native pines, easily reaching 90-100ft tall. It’s also very adaptable to various habitats, growing in moist bottomland floodplains to dry sandy uplands. These characteristics have made it the top choice for the timber industry, which often markets its wood as “southern yellow pine.” Fast-growing Loblolly is the most commonly planted species in pine plantations across the southeast, which has unnaturally increased its numbers and expanded its range.

🌿Characteristic Features

BARK: dark grey-brown when young, becoming a paler grey-brown with age. The elongated bark plates become thick and rough with age and are separated by deep fissures.

NEEDLES: three needles per fascicle (bundle), medium length - within 4-10 inches long, but usually 7-9 inches. They are dark green in color, stout, stiff, and straight in form.

FEMALE CONES: ovoid to conical shape, medium length (4-6 inches) with sharp spines, making them painful to hold. They are notably grey in color, as Loblolly Pines retain their cones on branches long after the seeds mature and fall - usually for 2-3 years. This can aid in identification from a distance - the clusters of medium-sized cones are typically noticeable. Once the cones finally fall, they have become grey with age, but occasionally younger, browner, or green cones are dislodged by squirrels or storms.

See if you can identify a Loblolly Pine in your neighborhood!

Thanks for tuning in! 👋🏻

Video & description by Lilly Anderson-Messec,
FNPS Director of North Florida Programs

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