General Landscape Uses:
Primarily recommended for natural landscapes and habitat restorations. It can also be an attractive accent tree in parks and large residential yards.
Ecological Restoration Notes: A key element of scrub, and the only canopy tree.
Availability:
Grown by one or two native plant nurseries in South Florida.
Description: Medium to large tree with a cylindrical to conical crown composed of numerous branches. Trunks to 1 foot or more in diameter. Bark gray, thin, brittle, with flaky scales, relatively smooth when young. Needles in bundles of 2s, about 2-3 1/2 inches long.
Dimensions: Typically 20-40 feet in height in South Florida; to 106 feet in Florida. Taller than broad.
Growth Rate: Slow to moderate.
Range:
Southeastern United States south to Broward and Collier counties. For a digitized image of Elbert Little's Florida range map, visit the
Exploring Florida website.
Map of select IRC data from peninsular Florida.
Map of ZIP codes with habitat recommendations from the Monroe County Keys north to Martin and Charlotte counties.
Habitats: Scrub.
Soils: Dry, well-drained sandy soils, without humus.
Nutritional Requirements: Low; it grows in nutrient poor soils.
Salt Water Tolerance: Low; does not tolerate long-term flooding by salt or brackish water.
Salt Wind Tolerance: Moderate; grows near salt water, but is protected from direct salt spray by other vegetation.
Drought Tolerance: High; does not require any supplemental water once established.
Light Requirements: Full sun.
Flower Color: Greenish turning brown.
Flower Characteristics: Cone. Pollination is by wind.
Flowering Season: Spring.
Fruit: Short-stalked brown cone, 2-3" long. Some cones open when mature, other remain closed for 2-4 years or longer, opening irregularly or following fire.
Wildlife and Ecology: Provides moderate amounts of food and cover for wildlife.
Horticultural Notes: Can be grown from seed. Growth is rapid at first.
References: Nelson 2003, Schaefer & Tanner 1997
Comments: A handsome pine tree for extremely dry soils in South Florida. The trees are flammable, however, and are best kept away from structures such as houses and office buildings.
