Pitch Pine

Pinus rigida often has poor form and is not valued highly as saw timber. It is fire successional, sprouts adventitiously, and is frequently shrubby in the northern part of its range. It is known to hybridize naturally with P . echinata .

Trees to 31m; trunk to 0.9m diam., straight or crooked, commonly with adventitious sprouts; crown rounded or irregular. Bark red-brown, deeply and irregularly furrowed, with long, irregularly rectangular, flat, scaly ridges, resin pockets absent. Branches arching-spreading to ascending, poorly self-pruning; 2-year-old branchlets stout (mostly over 5mm thick), orange-brown, aging darker brown, rough. Buds ovoid to ovoid-cylindric, red-brown, ca. 1--1.5cm, resinous; scale margins fringed, apex cuspidate. Leaves 3(--5) per fascicle, spreading to ascending, persisting 2--3 years, 5--10(--15)cm ´ 1--1.5(--2)mm, straight, twisted, deep to pale yellow-green, all surfaces with fine stomatal lines, margins serrulate, apex abruptly subulate-acuminate; sheath 0.9--1.2cm, base persistent. Pollen cones cylindric, ca. 20mm, yellow. Seed cones maturing in 2 years, shedding seeds soon thereafter or variously serotinous and long-persistent, often clustered, symmetric, conic to ovoid before opening, broadly ovoid with flat or slightly convex base when open, 3--9cm, creamy brown to light red-brown, sessile to short-stalked, base truncate, scales firm, with dark red-brown border on adaxial surface distally; apophyses slightly raised, rhombic, with strong transverse keels; umbo central, low-triangular, with slender, downcurved prickle. Seeds broadly obliquely obovoid-deltoid; body 4--5(--6)mm, dark brown, mottled darker, or near black; wing 15--20mm. 2 n =24.

Trees to 30 m tall; trunk straight or crooked, to 0.9 m d.b.h. in native range, usually with adventitious sprouts; bark red-brown, with deeply and irregularly oblong, flat, scaly ridges; crown rounded or irregular; 2nd-year branchlets orange-brown, aging darker brown, stout, mostly more than 5 mm wide, rough; winter buds red-brown, ovoid or ovoid-cylindric, resinous, scales fringed at margin. Needles 3(-5) per bundle, deep or pale yellow-green, twisted, 5-10(-15) cm × 1-1.5(-2) mm, stomatal lines present on all surfaces, base with persistent sheath 0.9-1.2 cm. Seed cones often clustered, sessile or shortly pedunculate, dull brown or pale red-brown, conical or ovoid before opening, broadly ovoid with flat or slightly convex base when open, 3-9 cm, maturing in 2 years, dehiscent. Seed scales with dark red-brown border adaxially distally; apophyses rhombic, slightly raised, strongly cross keeled; umbo low pyramidal, with a slender, reflexed prickle. Seeds dark brown, mottled darker or nearly black, broadly obliquely obovoid-deltoid, 4-6 mm; wing 1.5-2 cm.

Upland or lowland, sterile, dry to boggy soils; 0--1400m; Ont., Que.; Conn., Del., Ga., Ky., Maine, Md., Mass., N.H., N.J., N.Y., N.C., Ohio, Pa., R.I., S.C., Tenn., Vt., Va., W.Va.

Cultivated. Fujian, Jiangsu (Nanjing Shi), Jiangxi (Lu Shan), Liaoning, Shandong (Qingdao Shi) [native to SE Canada, E United States]