Skip to content
logo
  • Contact
  • Events
  • Donate
search
newsearch
  • Close
  • Home
  • Events
  • News
  • Donate
  • Contact
  • Who We Are
    • About The Alliance
      • Staff
      • Board of Directors
  • What is Longleaf?
    • The Tree
      • Life Stages
      • The History
      • The Economics
      • The Misconceptions
    • The Ecosystem
      • Built by Fire
      • Habitats
      • Species Diversity
    • Restoration & Management
      • Groundcover Restoration
      • Herbicides
      • Longleaf Regeneration
      • Prescribed Fire
    • Photo Gallery
  • What We Do
    • Restoration Through Partnerships
      • America’s Longleaf
      • LEO
      • Corporate Sustainability Programs
      • Nurseries
    • Longleaf Assistance
    • Conserving Diverse Forests
      • Rare Species
      • Forests & Water
      • Georgia Sentinel Landscape Prescribed Fire
    • Education & Outreach
      • Longleaf Academy Program
      • Biennial Longleaf Conference
      • Burner Bob®
      • Next Generation
      • The Longleaf Leader
      • The Longleaf Library
      • The Owen Fellowship
  • What You Can Do
    • Support The Alliance
    • Conservation Partners
    • Get Involved
    • Merchandise
    • Subscribe

The Tree

HomeWhat is Longleaf?The Tree

The Tree

Needles - evergreen, 8 to 17 inches in length, fascicled in groups of 3

As its name implies, longleaf pines have the longest needles of all southern pines. The needles are grouped in threes and arranged in tufts on the end of branches. Needles persist for approximately 2 growing seasons before shedding.

longleaf_candle_rb

High in natural volatile chemicals, longleaf pine needles are slow to decay once they fall to the forest floor. However, frequent fires throughout the woods easily ignite the dead needles and clean the forest floor of pine needles and other debris.

Native Americans and early settlers frequently used pine needles to weave baskets. Today, longleaf pine needles (called "pine straw") are gathered and used as garden mulch because of their pleasing color and length.

Cones - prickly, brown/gray in color, ~11 inches in length

20161103_104628

Like all pines, longleaf is monoecious with both the male and female reproductive cones found on the same tree. Longleaf pine's reproductive cycle takes over 2 years to complete, with the larger female cones eventually maturing by autumn of the second year. Longleaf pines are sporadic seed producers with infrequent good seed crops. Cones open and seeds fall in October and November.

The cones of longleaf pine are the largest of the southern pine and range in size from 5 to 12 inches in length. Because of their large size, only animals like the fox squirrel are sizable enough to manipulate and open the longleaf pine cones to eat the seeds before they fall to the ground.

Bark - red/brown in color, plated with paperlike scales

On young longleaf pine, the bark appears brownish-gray and is deeply furrowed. As the tree ages, the furrows become shallower, the bark color assumes an orange-brown shade, and the exterior scales appear more papery.

The thick bark of longleaf pine generally protects the tree from the frequent fires in the Southeast. Charred signs of past fires are often visible on the bark. Occasionally, a fire may burn through the bark creating a wound. Over time a noticeable fire scar may develop. A large fire scar may weaken (or perhaps kill) a longleaf pine tree. Nonetheless, fire scars make excellent nesting sites for animals such as bluebirds.

IMG_0685

Many species of birds, such as the white-breasted nuthatch, brown creeper, and red-cockaded woodpecker, scramble up and down the tree, peeling off scales of bark, searching for insects seeking refuge underneath. Some reptiles or amphibians like the barking tree frog or pinewood's tree frog take a more passive approach when hunting food and simply wait on the bark for food to come to them.

Roots

In its early life stages longleaf pines may demonstrate little growth aboveground, but belowground a tremendous amount of activity is taking place. Establishing an extensive root system provides essential access to soil moisture and anchorage once the tree initiates height growth.

As the tree continues to mature, the lateral and tap roots continue to grow. In mature trees, roots radiate out laterally an average of 35 feet from the trunk (some roots may travel up to 75 ft). Longleaf differs from other pines in that the tap root is nearly as large in diameter as the tree's trunk, tapering gradually to depths (on average) of 10 to 15 feet.

Longleaf roots are high in carbohydrates and other nutrients making them prized food for wildlife. Although relatively harmless to mature longleaf, root foraging can damage young trees. At one time, wild pigs were so abundant in the Southeast that their voracious appetite for longleaf roots resulted in countless acres of young trees rooted up.

When a longleaf pine tree dies, its root system decomposes or burns in a fire, creating a myriad of underground tunnels - ideal habitat for various creatures.

BROWSE THIS SECTION

  • The Tree
    • Life Stages
    • The Economics
    • The History
    • The Misconceptions
  • The Ecosystem
    • Built by Fire
    • Habitats
    • Species Diversity
  • Restoration & Management
    • Groundcover Restoration
    • Herbicides
    • Longleaf Regeneration
    • Prescribed Fire
  • Photo Gallery

From our feed

Have you heard? We're hosting a field day at the C Have you heard? We're hosting a field day at the Carolina Sandhills National Wildlife Refuge on June 6th. Join us to discuss all things longleaf restoration! Sign up TODAY at longleafalliance.org > upcoming events (link in bio)!
When you work in conservation, Earth Day is like o When you work in conservation, Earth Day is like our Super Bowl...And The Longleaf Alliance staff are going to busy this weekend. Come and find us at an event near you!Georgia: 🌲Day in the Woods - Gaskins Forest Education Center🌎Earth Day Party at Ponce City Market - Atlanta🌎Savannah Earth Day at Daffin Park (Friday, April 21)North Carolina:🌲Party for the Pine Festival - Southern PinesSouth Carolina:🌎Aiken Earth Day🌎Brookgreen Gardens Earth Day Celebration#EarthDayEveryDay #FireFestival #RestoreLongleaf
The life of a gopher tortoise revolves around its The life of a gopher tortoise revolves around its tunnel-like burrow. The burrows are easy to spot because of the characteristic mound of loose sand at the burrow entrance (called the “apron”). Gopher tortoises are often referred to as ecosystem engineers or keystone species because of their ability to dig these large (up to 40 feet long), deep (up to 10 feet down) burrows that provide habitat to >350 animal species. Patrick Elliott's "Longleaf Ecosystem" print depicts several of these burrow commensal species. Which ones do you see? P.S. April 10th is #GopherTortoiseDay! 🐢
"Egg-hunts" in longleaf pine forests might look a "Egg-hunts" in longleaf pine forests might look a bit like this!📷 Two dove eggs in a ground nest at the base of a bolting longleaf pine in South Carolina. Photo by Josh Raglin.
Load More

Conservation partners

https://longleafalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/ip_jpg-resized.jpg
https://longleafalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/PRT_ID_green_tag_L-resized.jpg
https://longleafalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Bartlett-resized.jpg
https://longleafalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/AMB-marque-black-e1616079416743.png
https://longleafalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Blantons-resized.jpg
https://longleafalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/advantage-forestry-resized.jpg
https://longleafalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/PCA-Logo-resized.jpg
https://longleafalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Whitfield-Logo-resized.jpg
https://longleafalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Aria-resized.jpg
https://longleafalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/gp_stack_logo-resized.jpg
https://longleafalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/ifco-resized.jpg
https://longleafalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/ArborGen-2018-resized.jpg
https://longleafalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/FIA-Stacked-resized.jpg
https://longleafalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/McLeod-Rhodes-resized.jpg
https://longleafalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/RMS-resized.jpg
https://longleafalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Meeks-resized.jpg
https://longleafalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/logofinalwithtagline-resized.jpg
  • Home
  • Who We Are
  • What is Longleaf?
  • What We Do
  • What You Can Do
  • The Longleaf Library
  • Photo Gallery
  • Merchandise
  • Events
  • News
  • Donate
  • Contact
  • Subscribe
footer-logo

12130 Dixon Center Road
Andalusia, Alabama 36420
Phone: 334.427.1029







©2021 The Longleaf Alliance
site by HLJ Creative