Latin (group) name: Pinus |
Latin (specific) name: Pinus Caribaea (Morelet) |
Average max height: 80' to 150' |
Average diameter: 24" to 36" |
Associated state: none |
Category: American Woods The Softwoods - Conifers Pine |
The Tree
The Slash Pine grows rapidly and is one of the most important and profitable of our southern yellow pines The name "slash" is given the tree because it grows most favorably in low hummocks of swamps called "slashes." It resembles the Ponderosa Pine in many respects although it is not as large a tree.The tree grows 80 to 150 feet in height with a fine high clear trunk 24 to 36 inches in diameter, breast high. The bark is relatively thin, broken into irregular scales, and a reddish-brown to orange color. The needles are 8 to 12 inches long, a dark lustrous green color, with two or three in a bundle forming clusters at the ends of the twigs. The needles of Slash Pine are longer than the Loblolly Pine but shorter than the Longleaf Pine. They remain on the tree for two seasons. The cones are egg shaped three to six inches long and are a glossy leathery brown color, very compact with short spines at the end of each scale of the cone, a peculiar characteristic of the Slash Pine. It is one of the best looking pines and is used to a large extent for ornamental planting and roadside beautification. Because this tree thrives best in moist areas it suffers lightly from forest fires but is susceptible to damage from red heart rot.
Common Names in Use
- Slash Pine (Ala., Miss.,Ga., Fla.)
- Bastard Pine (Fla., Miss., Ala., in part)
- Cuban Pine
- Meadow Pine (Fla., eastern Miss. in part)
- Pitch Pine (Fla.)
- Saltwater Pine (Fla.)
- She Pitch Pine (Ga)
- She Pine (Ga., Fla.)
- Spruce Pine (southern Ala.)
- Southern Pine (trade)
- Swamp Pine (Fla., Miss., Ala. in part)
- Yellow Slash Pine
Growth Range
The growth range of Slash Pine extends from the southern part of South Carolina westward through southern Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and southeastern Louisiana, and southward through Florida, and is also found in the West Indies and Central America. This tree grows best on low, poorly drained flats near bays and swamps.
The Wood
The heartwood is a rich orange to light brown or tan color with moderately thick light yellowish tinged sapwood. It is very heavy, the heaviest of all the pines, very stiff, strong, hard, straight-grained, uniform in texture and very resinous. It has no prominent figure. It nails hard, glues well and shrinks moderately.
Uses
Slash Pine outranks all other southern pines in the production of naval stores, pine oils, etc. When treated with creosote it is used extensively for posts and poles. The wood is used for heavy general construction, ship building, sheathing and other common lumber uses where a high resin content is not objectionable. Considerable quantities of the wood especially of the younger trees are used for paper pulp.
File References
ID | T | Name | Size | Last modified | Actions | ||
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152 | Pinus Caribaea (Morelet).jpg Pinus elliottii at St. Joseph Peninsula State Park, Gulf County, Florida. Reference: File:Pinus elliottii(1).jpg. (2015, March 8). Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository. Retrieved 15:33, August 12, 2018 from https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Pinus_elliottii(1).jpg&oldid=152432305. Attribution: By Mason Brock (Masebrock) [Public domain], from Wikimedia Commons |
362.73 KB | 01-09-2019 | ||||
153 | Slash Pine Cones Slash Pine cones Reference: PNGTreesKey - Pinus Caribaea Morelet. http://www.pngplants.org/PNGtrees/TreeDescriptions/Pinus_caribaea_Morelet.html. Accessed 12 Aug. 2018. |
1.07 MB | 01-09-2019 | ||||
154 | Slash Pine Bark Slash Pine bark Reference: Pinus_caribaea_0967.Jpg (JPEG Image, 2272 × 1704 Pixels) - Scaled (53%). http://www.pngplants.org/PNGtrees/images/Pinus_caribaea_0967.jpg. Accessed 12 Aug. 2018. |
462.42 KB | 01-09-2019 | ||||
405 | Slash Pine Range Map Estimated realized gains for first-generation slash pine (Pinus elliottii var. elliottii) tree improvement in the southeastern United States. Attribution: Scientific Figure on ResearchGate. Source: https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Natural-range-of-slash-pine-Critchfield-and-Little-1966-and-location-of-the-38-slash_fig1_237866218 [accessed 6 Mar, 2019] |
288.75 KB | 03-06-2019 |