Natives For Your Neighborhood
Conservation of rare plants, animals, and ecosystems

General Landscape Uses: Specimen tree or in groupings to form a grove. Good for roadside groupings.

Availability: Widely available in central Florida. Available at native plant nurseries in northeast and South Florida.

Description: Tall, single trunked pine with an ovoid crown. With enough space, it will have a spreading crown and low branches, otherwise the crown will be tighter and the branches will be higher. Needles are 8-12 inches long with 2-3 per cluster. Medium sized cones. Reddish brown bark separating into scaly, flaking plates.

Dimensions: 80 feetTypically 60-100 in height. Up to 132 feet in height in north Florida.

Growth Rate: Fast.

Range: Southern United States south throughout the state of Florida. 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 suggested ZIP codes from South Florida north to southern Brevard, Osceola, Polk, and Pasco counties.

 Map of ZIP codes with habitat recommendations from the Monroe County Keys north to Martin and Charlotte counties.

Habitats: Inland and coastal flatwoods.

Soils: Moist, 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: Green turning brown.

Flower Characteristics: Cone

Fruit: Cone

Wildlife and Ecology: Provides moderate amounts of food and cover for wildlife.

References: Huegel (2010), Nelson (2003)

Comments: We have been adding data for this species for central and northern Florida and welcome any feedback or review. If you would like to contribute information or images, please contact George Gann via the IRC staff page.