Pinus taeda – Loblolly Pine

Characteristics: needle-leaved evergreen tree

Flowers: spring

Fruit: cones with sharp spines

Growth: 40 to 50 feet tall (can be up to 90 feet), fast growth rate (2 or more feet per year)

Shade: full sun

Habitat: seasonally wet forested wetlands, sandy soil, tolerates drought, good pioneer species

Hydrology: facultative wetland -, irregularly to seasonally flooded with fresh water or saturated soil (up to 50% of the growing season with periods of dry-down), can tolerate infrequent flooding by water containing some salt, above spring tide to upland

Range: Southern New Jersey south to Florida and Texas west to Tennessee and Oklahoma

Comments: The loblolly pine has needle-like leaves in bunches of 3.  Seeds provide for species such as squirrels, chipmunks, mice, bobwhite quail, and wild turkey.  Trees may produce seeds at 10 years of age but the average age for seed production is 30 to 40 years.  This species is susceptible to pine beetle and fusiform rust disease.